


Tadashi 2.0 - Immortals

by ChangeGirlYuki



Series: Immortals [2]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Camp Half-Blood, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dragon-Blooded, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Mentioned Characters, Multiple Crossovers, Original Character(s), Sibling Incest, travelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2018-10-24 22:06:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 33,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10750743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeGirlYuki/pseuds/ChangeGirlYuki
Summary: Tadashi is a mess - he was dead, now he's back alive. But what if this isn't real? What if this is only a cruel dream?Good that Nico kicks his ass and gets him to hope again.Tadashi and Hiro start to explore their heritage as demigods and dragons. But not only their brotherly bond deepens, they slowly grow closer than siblings are supposed to. Will they manage?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! Part two of my Immortal-series! I'm sorry for the wait ._. But now it's out and I hope you like it as much as part one. 
> 
> Warning: read the tags!!! There will be incest in this later and if you don't like it, don't read it!

Tadashi 2.0 – Immortals

Disclaimer: The characters and their backround are not mine! No money is made with this, kudos and comments are more than enough, thanks. The plot of this fanfiction though is entirely mine. Enjoy!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Chapter 1

It didn't feel real. Okay, when he hit his head it did feel real, but just as real as it would feel in a pretty real dream – if someone would get this. Tadashi didn't. One moment, he was in the fire, trying to find and save his mentor and role model and the next thing he knows is the creepy and dark environment of Hades.  
How long he had been there, Tadashi doesn't know. But after what felt like eternity, he'd been ripped out of this deadly peace by Lucifer. And with being ripped out of Hades, his fading memories came back and with them his emotions. He was furious and shocked, panicking and worried. And sad. Because he wasn't a part of Hiro's life anymore. Hiro was alone now, left behind with their aunt Cass. The two of them were the last family either of them had. As if it hadn't been enough that his parents were gone that early, leaving two little children behind. 

But wait! That wasn't true! Only their mother had died while their father turned out to be a god who had more important things to do then looking after his children. Okay, so maybe Hiro had told him that Hephaestus had been somehow protecting them and all that but still. They had thought, their parents were gone, had felt the loss and gone through grieving. 

Tadashi hadn't known about his godly heritage when he had been Lucifer's prisoner. The guy was a tyran and Tadashi had tried to escape and fight back but at one point, he had stopped going against the guy. Because, why? There hadn't been a reason to fight. If he'd done so, he'd just vanished completely and his last chance of ever seing Hiro and Cass and their friends again – when they would have been dead too – would fade away. So why should he fight?  
The moment he had seen his little brother again though, his fighting instincts kicked back in. He had fought Lucifer when the son of Hermes had absorbed him and his ghostly camerads. He had fought inside Lucifer to keep himself together. And when he had been called by the Ghost King, he had fought against the urge to go back to the underworld and back to Lord Hades. For some strange reason, it had felt as if the God had accepted hsi wish to be with his brother and let him stay inside his son Nico until Tadashi had come back to life at Camp Half-Blood.

And here he was now, at a camp for demigods, learning about a foreign culture and it's myths. At least that's what he's supposed to do. But how could he do that when he's busy waiting for the moment he'll wake up and face the fact that all this was a dream?  
The sun on his skin, the air in his lungs, the food on his tongue.  
The warmth of the bonfire, the cold of the lake's water, the fresh smell of strawberries and grass.  
The feeling of his brother's hug, the sound of his voice and laughter.  
Being alive.

Tadashi knew he would break as soon as he'd wake up. So he tried his best to not make much experiences. The first days, he'd stayed at Nico's cabin, who apparently was Hiro's best friend. But when the son of Hades had kicked him out for the sake of having some alone time in there, Tadashi had been forced to go out and meet the camp. He'd met his and Hiro's siblings from cabin 9, Chiron and Percy and Baymax. He'd been in awe at what Hiro had done with his robot while he had been gone. It was very impressive.  
After being forced out of his hide out, Tadashi still hold back. He'd avoid others as much as possible and stay away from big gatherings. That meant, he had to avoid the meals. But that was okay for him, he didn't want to miss the food again.  
All in all, he tried to avoid everything and everyone. Except Hiro. That was something he couldn't do. Not to Hiro and not to himself. Hiro was the most important person in his life next to Cass. And the thing he'd miss the most.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

„Get your ass out of here and stop it!“  
Looking up in surprise at the harsh and angry voice, Tadashi was faced with an agitated son of Hades. Thinking that Nico wanted his cabin for himself again, the son of Hephaestus got up and was about to leave when the Italian grabbed his arm and stopped him.  
„Where do you think you're going? I'm talking to you!“  
Tadashi raised an eyebrow. „I'm leaving so you can have back your cabin.“  
Nico let go of his arm and crossed his arms in front of his chest. „Really? And you won't come back? Because that's what you're supposed to do.“

Tadashi didn't answer. They had talked about that. He should move in with Hiro and the others. Or move into the big house since he was much older than most of their siblings. But he'd refused, said that he wasn't ready. And he wasn't. But he got the feeling that he wouldn't be able to reject every time. Maybe that moment had come now.  
Nico sighed. „Look, Tadashi, I know how you feel.“  
Honestly, he doubted that. Even a son of Hades couldn't understand why he was afraid of waking up. That he was afraid of waking up to begin with.  
„You feel as if you're not a part of this, as if this is a dream and you'll wake up at one point. Your vision is blurry at the lines, you can't remember everything and there's this fear inside you that if you settle in, everything will crash down on you and you're back in Hades, dead and all that shit. Am I right?“  
Tadashi's jaw dropped. That was the nearest one could come to how he felt. Heck, he couldn't describe it better himself, not even if he'd had wanted.  
„I take that as a yes“, said Nico and continued. „I understand that you feel that way. I've pretty much experiences with ghosts and souls and all that. But believe me, you'll get better. You need to work for it though. If you starve yourself, you might be successfull and die again. Maybe you like Hades better than this place but Hiro would be mad if you leave him again, got that?“  
„But I...“, started Tadashi but stopped. A small flower of hope blossomed at Nico's words. Maybe this would stop being like a dream?  
„How?“, asked the former ghost, turning hopefull eyes at the Ghost King.  
The Italian shrugged. „All you have to do, is live. Go out, be with friends, eat, breathe and be alive. It'll get better on his own. So please stop hurting Hiro.“  
Tadashi stared at the other in shock.  
„Don't look at me like that. Did you think, Hiro wouldn't be sad that he can't help you. Today he even skipped lunch again because he was so busy thinking and tinkering in bunker 9 that he forgot. And he used to skip meals since he's arrived here too. Add the loss of meals most children of Hephaestus go through because their brain is even more of a mess than other demigods'...“  
„Where is he?“  
A small smile spread over Nico's face. „He's training his dragon power at the arena. I think Leo's with him...“

But Tadashi was out of the cabin before Nico had finished his sentence. He didn't know if he could trust the words the son of Hades had planted into his heart but oh, he wanted. And if he could make his brother happy with being there for as long as this dream or whatever it was continued, he'd do that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand here we go with the second chapter!!! Please tell me what you think and if you have suggestions for anything. Enjoy ^_^

Chapter 2 

He could hear them before he had reached the arena. There was Leo, shouting directions and cheering, other people were screaming and clapping their hands. What was going on? Another of those training-games?  
When Tadashi came to see what they were doing, he was shocked. It seemed as if almost everyone of this camp had come to watch his little brother... puking... fire balls? Hiro had changed into his humanoid dragon form – scales, wings, horns and all that – and stood in front of a few targets. They surrounded him actually and Leo told Hiro which one to hit. A few targets were already burning. 

Seing his little Hiro all powerfull and, he couldn't help it, beautiful did strange things to Tadashi. He got jealous. And angry. It shouldn't be Leo and camp practicing with his brother, it should be HIM. He was supposed to do this, he was the older one, he... should be stronger. He should protect Hiro, teaching him all this or at least be there for him. But here he was, weak and in the need of that son of Hades to get his ass out of his shell and at least try to get his act together. The rising anger inside him grew until it overpowered the doubts and fears inside his heart.   
When Hiro hit the next target and set it on fire, Tadashi saw red. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

It had been a good day so far. The sun was shining above them – thanks to Lord Apollo – and it was warm enough to walk around in shorts and a t-shirt and Hiro had had a good day at bunker 9. He didn't worry THAT much about Tadashi as usual and got some work done. The look he had gotten from Nico as his friend had caught him skipping lunch later was the only bad thing so far. Hiro had grabbed a sandwich and went to the arena where he was supposed to meet with Leo. They wanted to try his fire powers and since the other child of Hephaestus was a fire bender, it would be as... save as possible. At a camp full of demigodly teenager that is. 

They had been practicing for a while and it had been pretty funny – lots of campers were watching him and it had gotten kind of a copetition as well when he'd noticed that the Stoll twins were taking bets. At one point though, they were interrupted by an angry roar and the next thing Hiro knew was that he was tackled on the ground, sight taken by a large pair of wings. Black wings.   
He could hear the others scream and run away and for a second he was afraid. Instead of getting into self-protection mode though, his body stayed relaxed. A few moments later, the body on top of him moved and Hiro was able to sit up again. The sight that greeted him was... kind of breathtaking.

A dragon, almost as big as a normal car, with black and blue scales – the same shade of blue as Hiro's scales – black wings and horns. His eyes were yellow with a tint of green and they were fixed on... him!   
Taking a deep breath, Hiro raised his hands and slowly moved closer towards the mighty creature. He had transformed into a full dragon himself but only just once. He had been very agitated back then, they had been playing Capture the Flag and some monsters had attacked him and so on.   
„What's wrong, Dashi?“, asked Hiro. Somehow he knew that this creature in front of him was his older brother. He didn't know why but he kinda felt it, it was like an instinct. Knowing about your pack members or something like that maybe. The teen tried to give his voice a soothing tone and moved closer towards Tadashi.

At some point, he was close enough to actually touch his brother. He put his hands onto the big head and carefully patted him. Tadashi hadn't even transformed into the humanoid dragon form before, Hiro couldn't imagine how overwhelming this experience must be for his brother.   
After a small eternity, Tadashi calmed down enough to change into the form Hiro was in now – a young man covered in blue and black scales, smaller black wings and horns but still impressive. Following an(other?) instinct, Hiro hugged Tadashi tightly and burried his nose in his brother's neck, humming a little melody, Tadashi used to sing every time when Hiro had been upset as a smaller child.   
„I...“ Tadashi's voice was raspy and full of emotions. „I should be the one whom you experience this with. I should... be there for you.“  
Hiro moved so that he could look into the other's eyes. „Tadashi. Look at me. There's no need to be stronger than me or such a thing. I'm fine! We can do this together.“  
„Nico told me you skipped lunch today“, argued Tadashi.   
Now it was Hiro's turn to be angry. „Yeah, as if you eat that much yourself! Honestly, I don't know what to do anymore, Tadashi!“   
Hiro let go of his brother and started to gesture around wildly. „I gave you time and I gave you space. I would have listened to you but you won't talk. Not much at least. You don't want to be around others so you don't come to dinner and such, not to bonfire or training sessions. You don't do anything and I don't know what to do, how to make you feel better and happy and that makes me feel so helpless, it's frustrating!“

„... I'm sorry.“ Tadashi's averted his eyes and hugged himself. He looked so sad and broken and that made Hiro feel guilty but he just didn't know what to do! He let his arms hang loosely at his sides, waiting for his brother to continue. And after a while, he did.  
„I'm... afraid to wake up. That at some point, I'll open my eyes and this, everything here, had been nothing more but a dream. I don't think I could take that. So... I thought that if I don't... do much, don't live much, I... won't miss it. I don't want to loose you again, I don't want to be death and in Hades again. But neither do I want you to be sad because I'm weak. Nico told me how much you suffer because I don't have the balls to be happy and alive as long as this dream goes on and I... I won't do this anymore. I'll try and hope that one day I'll actually believe that this is real and until then I'll make the best out of it. For you.“

Hiro stared at his brother with wide eyes. So that was the problem. Not Tadashi being traumatized because of him being dead. Not Tadashi freaking out about the betrayal of their father or the freak out about the dragon-thing. This was his brother being afraid of this, of him, being not real.   
There was nothing Hiro was able to say, so he just hugged Tadashi again and pulled him as close as possible, not wanting to let go anymore.   
„This is not a dream. I promise, you won't wake up“, whispered Hiro. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

The light wasn't very bright, just enough to enlighten the large room he was in. There were tables with all kind of tools and materials lying around. He could see lots of half finished projekts standing around on every available surface and lots of... coffee cubs?   
There was a man standing in front of the main desk in the room, his back facing Tadashi. He was sure he didn't make any noise but suddenly the big man turned around and faced him. He looked... like nobody Tadashi had seen before and he'd seen a lot of people of different countries and societies at university already. And in Hades but those memories were cloaked somehow because he had been dead. The man's skin was covered with lots of scars and he didn't look much like the mighty god he was. Hiro had described him good.  
„I wouldn't have thought I'd ever be able to talk to you“, said Hephaestus, voice full of hidden emotions. Tadashi didn't say anything, he just looked at that man who was his' and Hiro's father.   
„I... wanted to... help you and Hiro...“  
Tadashi interrupted him at that: „You? Helping me and Hiro? Why do you want to have something to do with us all of a sudden? First you stay away from us and let us believe that our father is dead. And then you came and take Hiro away from aunt Cass because of some promise you were forced to make and send him on a quest. And not only that, you don't even tell him about this dragon-thing right from the start, no, he has to find out by himself!“  
The god took his chance to speak when Tadashi was out of breath from yelling. „I am a god. I did as much as I could, I kept the monsters away from you and it was easy when you were younger and your scent weak. But I knew, one day I would have to tell you. Gods are not allowed to just help mortals, not even their own children, without some kind of big reason or a great offering. There are rules, rules that are centuries old. But now that your brother proved himself during that quest and came into his heritage, now that you too came into your herritage, I'm able to give you some advice. Your mother once told me about a place were she found information about your kind, clues about other dragons but they had been very old. She didn't have the time to follow those clues but maybe you and Hiro can finish what she started.“  
Hephaestus took a map from the table he had been working at and handed it over to Tadashi who took the paper hesitantly. He wasn't sure what he should think about the explaination he'd gotten from the man who called himself his father. He had heard enough stories from Hiro about how those greek and roman and whatever gods treated their children so a part of him wasn't surprised. But that didn't mean he was going to be all happy and a behaving son, oh no! He would tell Hiro and then they would decide what to do.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

The first thing, Tadashi saw when he opened his eyes in the morning, was the naked foot of Hiro dangling from the bed above. When he had told his brother that he'd spend the night with him at cabin 9, Hiro had been very happy. Tadashi was sure he hadn't seen Hiro that happy in the last weeks so the talk with both, Nico and Hiro had been worth it.   
Tadashi sat up and looked down in surprise. He was still holding the map from his dream. The map with the last information about dragons and about their mother. He reached out and pulled at Hiro's foot to wake up the younger Hamada.   
Time to do some research.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

„So... let’s see if I got that right... you and your brother want to follow a piece of paper into the wilderness of Russia and explore some caves in the eastern mountains? Follow a piece of paper a god gave to you?”  
“If you’re phrasing it like that, it sure does sound stupid”, admitted Hiro and pouted. Tadashi leanded back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest.   
“I don’t trust a piece of paper but Hiro. And if Hiro says that following our father’s lead will be the right thing, I’m in.”

Hiro’s face lit up at that and Tadashi had to hold back and not pet his brother’s head immediately. Hiro was very happy these days and Tadashi was proud to say that he partly was the reason for this. Since that dream of Hephaestus, they had been busy with discussing it, studying the map and, when they’d finally decided to go to the placo on said map, planning the trip. It was good to bury himself in this project. It helped a lot to keep his mind busy with organisation and such so he didn’t need to think about what he’d do when this dream would end. This life. Just because he’d decided to stop hiding didn’t mean he trusted this… everything. But for Hiro’s sake Tadashi wanted to try. He’d tag along for the meals, actually eat something and sometimes try his dragon powers in the arena, together with Hiro. 

“We won’t be able to stop you anyway, right?” 

Today Tadashi and Hiro had told their closest friends about their personals quest. Nico, Percy, Leo, Hazel, Annabeth, as well as Will were gathered in Hades Cabin, much to Nico’s disliking. Tadashi wasn’t sure how he felt about all of them but Nico was Hiro’s best friend and Tadashi had to admit that the Italian was pretty cool. Percy was okay but just a slight bit to much of a mother-hen, unbearable when teaming up with a Will Solace. Leo was nice and it was fun to talk about tinker-things with him and Hazel was Nico’s sister.   
Annabeth was the one Tadashi got along with the most aside from Nico. The daughter of Athena was a real Wise Girl and talking to her and Nico helped him to strengthen his hope that maybe this was real and he’d get to live his life. A second chance. Because Annabeth managed to make it sound logical and explained things with actuall backround infromation and historical datas. (If one would admit that the old myths were true that is.)

“No”, answered Hiro and Annabeth sighed in defeat.   
“Come on, Wise Girl. As if we had been able to stop going on quests when we thought we were supposed to”, said Percy and nudged the blonde.   
“Whatever”, huffed the daughter of Athena and shrugged, a small smile tugging on her lips.   
“But if you go, you need to be prepared.” Tadashi wasn’t sure if having Will Solace helping them prepare would be a good idea.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

On the one hand, they had packed many things they might need (“You haven’t thought about taking nectar and ambrosia?? These are the basics of a demigodly first aid kit!” or “You know that this part of Russia tends to be rather cold, right? Have some greek fire in a bottle.”).  
On the other hand, their back packs looked as if they planned on moving out of home and tried to pack all their belongings into a single rucksack. Considering that they hadn’t much with them because they hadn’t known about Camp Half-Blood and all the latest happenings beforehand, they really had to take everything with them, but still… it seemed to be too much. At least they had Baymax for carrying their stuff most of the times. A big white robot might not be thaaat common in the US but hey, he wasn’t something they needed to cover with mist. 

Hiro and Tadashi said their goodbyes in the early morning a few days later. Tadashi felt that if they would stay any longer, their friends would just find even more for them to take with them. He was still questioning the grass seeds, he’d gotten from Grover. The satyr claimed them to be special and very usefull at times but… grass seeds? For real? This wasn’t some kind of Pokèmon game! Tadashi sighed and leaned back against Thaila’s Tree while he watched Hiro hugging the others goodbye. 

The daughter of Zeus’ story was a pretty impressive one and Tadashi was not surprised that she’d chosen a life with a goddess, far of the normal human society hunting monsters. Just like him had she been kind of dead and life went on without them. For him, it had been about a year or so, but for her, more than five years had passed since she had died/been turned into a tree. Choosing a life where she wouldn’t be reminded of what she’d missed out every day was understandable. He himself had to adjust to life again, to acutally believe that he was alive and to Hiro.  
His little brother wasn’t so little anymore. He was more mature and responsible. Stronger. Tadashi still didn’t know all what had happened after he had been gone but enough to tell that Hiro was not the little brat he’d dragged to uni anymore. He had friends, more than Go-Go and the others from uni. He had grown and gotten a few muscles here and there. And when Hiro was in his humanoid dragon form, he was breathtaking. The way his eyes would glow with the hidden power and the self-confidence he had when showing his scales… 

A sudden touch on his shoulder startled Tadashi. He turned around to find the son of Hades standing next to him. He wasn’t surprised that Nico didn’t join the hugging session in front of them.  
“You… take care.” Nico’s expression was serious and calm but his eyes hid a lot of emotion. Tadashi remembered how Hiro had told him about Nico’s sister and how Percy had promised to bring her back but couldn’t keep it. So Nico asking him to bring himself and Hiro back in one piece was a big thing.   
Swallowing the big thing inside his throat, Tadashi nodded. Nico coppied the move and that was when Tadashi felt himself hugged by a lot of people out of a sudden. He grunted in surprise.   
“You won’t leave without a last hug”, stated Leo and somehow Tadashi didn’t mind the way too much body contact anymore. Whatever laid bevore the two of them, a feeling in his guts told him that it would change a lot of things. A last hug from the ones they’d let behind wouldn’t be a bad thing, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, Tadashi and Hiro will be on the road ^_^  
> Thanks for the kudos, please tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Stitch for kicking my ass and beta-reading ^_^  
> Thanks for kudos, I'd love to hear what you think!

Chapter 4

Only a few hours into their quest, Tadashi found out, how thankful he was. Thankful that Annabeth had been planning the route for them. For ordinary humans, a trip from the US to Russia was already stressing and long. But for demigods as they couldn’t just travel on an airplane, it was kind of complicated. So, how would they get to Russia?   
One possibility would have been asking Zeus for his blessing and fly over there. But there was nothing they would have been able to offer to the king of Olympus so that was off the table.   
Nico couldn’t take them there either because a shadow-travel with three persons and a big robot and package would be too hard and knock him out for the next few days.   
Walking all the way or driving by car would take way to long! The same went for taking Pegasi or other riding animals because they would be exhausted at one point. So the daughter of Athena had thought of something else. And that was when Percy came into the plan.

The son of Poseidon spent every summer at Camp Half-Blood and even showed up during school time through the year. But since he was still living with his mother and her new husband Paul Blofis, he wanted to make sure that his family was save from monster attacks and such. So he gave them Mrs. O’Leary as a guardian.   
The idea was that Hiro and Tadashi would go to New York, pick up Mrs. O’Leary, travel to Russia with her – it would take them some time as the hellhound would need a break from time to time but that would still be the best possibility – and after they arrived at the final destination, send her back home. They didn’t know how long they’d stay and how exactly they would return – or even where to – but the siblings knew they could always IM Percy and ask him to send the hellhound lady to pick them up.  
In the meantime, Percy and his friends would be on guard and if there would be a monster threatening them, Sally would IM them or something like that. Besides the woman had been fine without the hellhound for years, so she knew how to take care of herself. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Tadashi was also very thankfull that Annabeth had been planning the route, listing possible places for a short or longer break, save and dangerous areas and all that. And he was thankful that the son of Poseidon offered Mrs. O’Leary to them. Percy had just shrugged it off though and said “I’m just helping out my friend and his brother.” – and went to Will who took the medical and nuteral organisation onto himself. So if much of their food turned out to be blue, the Hamadas wouldn’t be surprised. 

It was a rather long way from Camp Half-Blood to New York. When you were walking that is. Tadashi was very impressed about Hiro’s stamina. The younger Hamada didn’t complain or pout. He’d just talk or walk in silence. So Tadashi shut up as well. Firstly because he didn’t want to look like a baby to Hiro and secondly because complaining about something made things worse most of the times.   
As the area became more city-like, they took their package from Baymax and minimized the robot. For some reason, San Fransokyo was something like a city of the future with all the robots and inventions and even with the architecture. For tourists, their hometown was like a piece of future planted into the landscape – a visit comparable with a litle time travel – which made San Fransokyo a very popular destination for holidays.   
But this wasn’t San Fransokyo, this was New York.

“You’ve got the address?”, aksed Tadashi as they were a few streets into the city and stopping by at a little shop to sit down and get something to drink. They only had that much money but with Mrs. O’Leary, things would go easier and they wouldn’t need to buy much. At least Tadashi hoped so.  
“Yep”, said Hiro, popping the “p” and putting the straw back between his lips, finishing his drink. “Let’s go, I wanna sleep in Canada tonight.”  
Tadashi rolled his eyes but he got up as well. “Whatever you say, brat.”  
“Oi! I’m not a brat anymore!” The pout on Hiro’s face stood in contract to the amused sparkle in his eyes.   
“Fine… kiddo!”  
Neither of them pointed it out loud but both of them had been missing this kind of arguments between siblings.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Sally Jackson was a full-blood mom. When they knocked at her door, the first one greeting them wasn’t the supposed-to-be-guarddog, it was her. One look at their faces and the next thing Hiro and Tadashi were aware of, was, that they were pulled into the flat, straight into the kitchen.  
“You two are way to thin!” (Maybe she had been greeting them somewhere in between but Tadashi couldn’t remember everything about the first moments in that flat anymore.)  
Not even half an hour later, both Hamadas had a plate of food in front of them and weren’t allowed to get up before Sally said so. While eating, Tadashi took in the woman in front of him. She wasn’t the youngest anymore, at least telling from the looks. But the way she talked, her smile and all that told about her happiness and love. She reminded him a lot of their aunt Cass. A sad spark lit up in his chest. Cass Hamada had never been related to them by blood but she had taken them in and raised them even though she must have known that her brother hadn’t been their real father.   
Oh man, how much he missed this woman… Tadashi felt something poke his rips and when he looked over to Hiro, he could see the knowing look in his brother’s eyes. They still hadn’t figured out, how and what exactly to tell her but Hiro had told him that Cass knew something was off and demanded answers.   
“Okay boys, who wants dessert?” The siblings groaned but took the offered ice cream anyway. (And it seemed as if blue food run in the family. Tadashi made a mental note to ask Percy about that one time.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“So where will you two go next?”, asked Sally when they had finished their meal and cleaning up the dishes, something the two Hamadas had insisted on.   
“We’ll be in Quebec next”, answered Hiro and reached out to pat the giant hellhound who was sitting on the floor next to them, tongue hanging down and tail wagging happily. A real guardian, really.   
“Canada, okay… can one of you speak French?”  
“No…”, stated Hiro and threw a glance over to Tadashi.  
“But we’ll be fine. Even though nearly 95 percent of the population in that city speaks French as their mother tongue, more than a third of them can also speak English. And if not, then Hiro can try this new Application on his IRIS-PHONE”, stated Tadashi, trying to show more optimism than he was feeling. The language would be a huge problem during their journey.   
“Did you plan your route with Annabeth by any chance?”   
Tadashi frowned. “Yeah?”  
Sally chuckled. “Thought so. You sounded a bit like Wikipedia. But it’s good to know as much about new places before going there as possible. I’ll ask the gods of a safe journey for you two though.”  
“Thanks, ma’am”, said Hiro and immediately got cheaded.   
“It’s still Sally, young man. I’m not an old wheelchair grandma!”

They didn’t stay much longer, only talking a bit about how things were going at camp. Tadashi felt that Sally really wanted to ask about what they were going to do and all but he was thankful that she did not. It wasn’t the time now. But the siblings couldn’t avoid the bone-crashing goodbye-hug they got before climbing onto Mrs. O’Leary’s bag and neither of them minded. Percy’s mom had already wormed her way into their hearts.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go!

Chapter 5

* Location – Quebec; Canada *

Shadow travelling was like a ride in the roller coster. Full of adrenaline and panick and still kinda fun. Well for Hiro it was way more fun than for Tadashi. The older Hamada had been afraid before, even talked to Annabeth about maybe finding another way to travel.   
What if the shadows, the underworld would just take him back? When he would be sucked out of this second chance before he has had a real chance to enjoy and live it? Because these few days after Nico had kicked his ass weren’t enough, it’ll never be enough. He couldn’t leave Hiro again, not when doing something that important. And he also wanted to do this journey for himself. He wanted to find out who they were, who he was. 

Because even though he was back in life, he wasn’t the same anymore and he knew that. He saw it every time Hiro would look at him when they were remembering something serious or funny they had experienced together. There was this shadow in Hiro’s eyes, the shadow of him having died in this fire. Something they still avoided talking about but really needed to do.   
Annabeth had listened to him but made it clear that she did not see any other way for them. She might be able to shorten the route but that would mean longer breaks for Mrs. O’Leary and longer terms for them with possible monster attacks at bay. There was no way Tadashi would endanger his little brother more then necessary, even though he new how strong the teen could be – he had noticed during their training sessions.   
So when Nico too had ensured that he wouldn’t end up dead because of shadow travelling, Tadashi knew he would be doing this. The notion of Nico that he might feel a strong pull from the death hiding in the shadows and perhabs stay there on his own was pushed into the darkest corner of his mind. 

The moment, Mrs. O’Leary stepped into the darkness of the building, Sally Jackson was living in though, Tadashi could feel it. The urge to just let go and join the whispering around them. The pull from his soul, wanting to leave, remembering the death. It took every bit of his strength and will to not let go of Hiro’s waist and leave. It was scary and painfull and pure horror. Tadashi didn’t know how long they stayed inside of the darkness but the moment they were out of it again, the moment he saw blue sky and fresh air against his skin, he was out like a candle. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

“… I DON’T KNOW! PLEASE, HELP ME!”  
Tadashi groaned and turned his head to the side. Why was Hiro screaming so loud?  
“Oh my gosh, you’re awake!” Tadashi felt someone touching his head. Slowly did he open his eyes to find a really worried looking Hiro looking down on him.   
“What… happened?” He couldn’t remember much after the first few moments of shadwo travelling.   
“It seems your first shadow travel went quite hard on you.” Tadashi looked around confused. Why did he hear Nico? The son of Hades should be at camp right now. That was when he spottet Hiro’s IRIS-PHONE next to them on the ground, speakers turned on.   
“We knew that this could happen but that you would be out like that”, continued the Italian. There was a worried tone to his voice. “Maybe you should come back.”  
“No. We’ve come this far”, argued Tadashi and sat up, ignoring Hiro’s protests. “Even if we’d come back now, we would need probably as much time as the entire journey. And we wouldn’t get any answers.”  
“It’s okay, Tadashi.” Hiro’s voice was small and his eyes were sad. “I don’t want to do this if there’s any chance you might get hurt. Let’s go back.”  
Tadashi shook his head. “I want to do this for us. For us and for aunt Cass. We need to do this, I can feel it.”  
“But…”  
“No ‘but’. Nico?”, interrupted the older Hamada.  
“Hm? Yeah?”  
“Do you have any clue why I passed out like that?”, asked Tadashi and tried to hide his nervousness. He really hoped that this wasn’t a suicide project for him.   
“… Your mind and body might have been too overwhelmed by it”, said Nico slowly. “Maybe it’ll be easier next time but if it isn’t, it’s something else.”   
“And what else?”, asked Hiro.  
“Then it’s the death calling his soul back and the chances are high that he won’t make it”, stated Nico. Hiro’s eyes grew big and he opened his mouth but Tadashi was faster.   
“Thank you, Nico, we’ll think about it.” And with that, he ended the call.   
“We are so going to go home!”, said Hiro and got up. Just then did Tadashi notice the room they were in.

“Where are we?”  
“At the first address on Annabeth’s list. Mrs. O’Leary carried you.”   
Tadashi looked around. The room looked like a small hotel room with only one door to the hall. Common bathroom it was then. The furniture was modern but not that expensive, one big bed, big enough for two persons, a cupboard and a large window. A small desk and two chairs in front of it. There was a phone and a television but Tadashi was sure that you’d have to pay extra to use it. It all looked clean at the first sight.   
Hiro had reached their package next to the door. Baymax stood next to it, observing the communication.   
“Hey, Baymax. Did you scan me?”, asked Tadashi, curious about what his robot might have found out.   
“Yes, Tadashi. You were unconcious. Your heart rate was very low compared to a normal man your age. Your brain was very active though. All other results were worryingly low too.”

No wonder Hiro had been that scared. Tadashi got up slowly from the bed and went over to Hiro. His litle brother stood in front of their backs, shoulders slacked and did nothing. Tadashi hesitated before he wrapped his arms around Hiro, pulling the younger one into a tight hug.   
“I’m sorry I scared you.” He could feel Hiro was crying even though he didn’t make a sound.   
“I … I thought you’d die again”, whispered Hiro, hands coming up to hold onto Tadashi’s arms.   
“I’m sorry.”

They stayed like that until Hiro calmed down some. Tadashi knew that he couldn’t do much to comfort him, he hadn’t been in such a situation before. But if his own fears and other emotions were already that heavy, he really didn’t want to trade it with Hiro’s.   
“I… want to continue this”, said Tadashi after what felt like eternity. He could feel Hiro tense up but his brother didn’t say a word.   
“I want to do this”, continued the older Hamada. “For you. For aunt Cass. And for myself. You told me I should start living again. I want to know what kind of life this will be.”  
Hiro didn’t answer for a while. Then: “If you pass out again, we’re so going back to camp. Don’t you dare to die!”  
A small smile spread over Tadashi’s face as he let go of Hiro.   
“How long will it take Mrs. O’Leary to recharge?”  
“24 hours minimum. Maybe a bit longer. She’s currently sleeping in the backyard.”  
“Good. How about we explore the city some?”, suggested Tadashi and felt much better when he saw how Hiro’s eyes lit up.   
“Yes! And you’re so going to pay since you made me worry that much!”  
Suddenly Tadashi wasn’t sure if this had been such a good idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stitch demanded monster attacks in the next chapter. Any suggestions? Please tell me what you think! ^_^


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been quite busy with work and my birthday but here you go with another chapter ^_^  
> Please tell me what you think!

Chapter 6

*Location – Quebec; Canada*

The owner of the hotel they were staying at was a son of Aphrodite. He had left Camp and moved to Canada because he wanted a save life for his family and this area was supposed to be not as popular for monster attacks as others. Luckily, he didn’t aspect for Hiro and Tadashi to actually pay for the service. All Sebastian Sewell did was asking if they needed to recharge on weapons or something else. He was a pretty ordinary looking guy for a child of Aphrodite. Well, aside from the green hair on his head.   
After a pretty short conversation – Sebastian was a very busy man – and a quick check on their sleeping hellhound lady, the two Hamadas left for the town. 

Quebec City reminded the brothers a lot of the European area in San Fransokyo. There were a lot of modern buildings but also a lot made out of stone. You would find many restaurants and shops, sometimes very hidden but full of people. It was late afternoon by now so many people were on their way home from work or going shopping for dinner and so on.   
The Hamadas decided to not go too far away from Mrs. O’Leary and their belongings so they could leave as soon as possible if necessary. Tadashi let Hiro drag him along into a few shops and a little café to get something to eat. 

Seeing as they didn’t actually have money to go on a real big shopping trip and that said money was supposed to be enough for their entire journey, Hiro came up with something else. (And they wouldn’t want to carry all those things for the entire way, thank you very much!)  
Tadashi’s heart ached when he heard Hiro suggesting that they’d play “Apple and Egg”.   
It was something they had done quite often when they were younger. Aunt Cass would give each of them an apple and an egg and they would knock at every door on their street and ask if someone had something bigger than the apple or smaller than the egg. And the one with the biggest and or the smallest thing in the end won. They had so much fun back then but when they got older, they somehow stopped playing. Hearing Hiro asking for “Apple and Egg” was making Tadashi really happy. That was something he knew, something of the Hiro he was used to know inside out. 

********************* 

One hour. They were supposed to meet up at exactly this spot one hour into the game. By now, Hiro was twenty minutes late! Tadashi kept walking up and down in front of the old bench beneath a tree in the park. He wanted to go and look after his little brother but what if Hiro would come back in the meantime and go looking after Tadashi instead?   
Cursing himself for not thinking this through until the end, the older Hamada tried to thing of a solution when he suddenly heard someone scream. When he looked up, he saw the other people who were visiting this small park dashing off of the path, making space for… Hiro Hamada, who was running like he was meant to win a marathon, all sweaty and out of breath.   
Frowning, Tadashi opened his mouth to ask what was going on but Hiro just grabbed his arm and pulled him along. Whoa, his little brother was stronger than Tadashi remembered and if not for his reflexes, he would lay down on the ground by the force behind Hiro’s action.

“What the fuck’s goin’ on?”, asked Tadashi between pants while he followed the younger Hamada out of the park and down the street.   
“Monster…”, was all Hiro managed to say. And before he could ask anything else did he hear it. Loud and heavy food steps, coming closer and closer. Sometimes a crashing car and the sound of breaking metal could be heard. Wasn’t this supposed to be one of the safer areas? How did Hiro manage to get attacked that fast?

Maybe Tadashi should have paid closer attention to the maps Annabeth had shown him when they had been planning their route. But if he was honest, after the fifth description of a way to a sight seeing place, wonder of architecture or something like that, Tadashi had put his attention to other use. As in finding the way to a nearby supermarket for example. And at one point, the daughter of Athena had given up, pouting about his small attention span.   
Right now, the older Hamada would love for Annabeth to tell him how to get out of this! 

“This” was a dead end somewhere in Quebec City with a brick wall in their back and a giant monster in front of them. Well but if Annabeth would have been here, she wouldn’t have been much helpful since it was a giant spider who was blocking the way.   
Granted a giant spider made out of celestial bronze wasn’t a real spider but still a spider.   
Ignoring his protests, Tadashi pushed Hiro behind himself while he fixed his eyes on the slowly closer coming danger. The part of him that was a son of Hephaestus wanted to approach the automaton and check the mechanics and energy sources and all that stuff but he knew that ths wasn’t the right time to have a fanboy-moment.   
They hadn’t taken any real weapons with them, just Hiro’s IRIS-PHONE and a dagger for each of them.

“Tadashi…”, started Hiro but the automaton chose exactly this second to run over to them. The eight legs hammered through the asphalt on the ground, loud mechanic clacking could be heard and it’s shining red eyes had zoomed in on the two demigodly dragons. But before either of them would have been able to pull out his weapon, change into his dragon form or curl together into a tiny ball of fear, the noises from inside the spider grew louder and louder and the automaton started transforming. The celestial bronze sheets moved and at first it seemed as if the thing would grow bigger but then the sheets shrunk somehow and within a few seconds, there was a tiny little dog standing in front of them, tail wagging and the red eyes turned green. A bronze tongue was hanging out of his mouth and he was whining cutely as if he wanted something. 

“What the fuck?”, asked Tadashi, hand still on the dagger hanging from his belt. A few seconds ago, he had been sure that this automaton had been all about to kill them and now the monster had changed into a pet?? Was this a trick? Would it rip them in pieces when they’d try to walk past it? But wouldn’t it have been easier if it had lured them while in this form and then changed into the giant spider to kill them? Needles to say that Tadashi was confused.   
While he was busy thinking about a way out of this mess though, Hiro had pushed past him and was now approaching the metal dog.   
“Hiro, no!”, called the older Hamada but it was too late. Hiro went down and started to pet the automaton dog which wagged his tail faster and faster, eyes closed and ears flat against his head.   
“Don’t worry, ‘Dashi. Don’t you feel it? There’s no threat around anymore. This cutey just wants to play”, answered Hiro, smiling back over his shoulder, brown eyes sparkling.   
Yeah, Tadashi was feeling the same but that didn’t mean that he’d trust this feeling. Could be all a giant trick with the automaton spraying some kind of luring pheromones or some shit like that.   
“C’mon”, demanded Hiro and picked the automaton up. Suddenly Tadashi had a mythical monster slash automaton all up in his personal space.   
“Pet him!”  
The other hand still on his dagger did Tadashi fight his instincts and reached out to pet the bronze dog. As soon as his skin made contact with the celestial bronze, a wave of information rushed through his being. He suddenly knew every single bit about the way this automaton was build, how it worked and that it didn’t mean to startle the two sons of Hephaestus but hadn’t seen children of it’s master for so long and wanted to play a bit. Well, everything was better then being killed, right?

*******************

The two siblings went back to the park but avoided the destruction they had left behind on their run. For an hour or two did they play with the littly guy who was very cuddly and cute after all. Tadashi felt sorry that they couldn’t take it with them but maybe they could come back and pick him up on their way back. 

When they got back to the hotel, Sebastian told them that he had feed Mrs. O’Leary when she had woken up a couple of hours ago. When they went to see her, the hellhound was already back to sleep, a big empty bowl in front of her.   
After that, they went to their room, took a shower and went to bed. Well, Hiro went to bed, Tadashi just laid down and watched the shadows. The first impression of the automaton had sent the two of them into panick and scared the shit out of them. Nothing they had done after that, playing and cuddling, could erase those memories from Tadashi. If this automaton would have been a real thread, he wouldn’t have been able to protect Hiro. They hadn’t been prepared, careless and by now, they could have been dead. Dead before even halfway through their adventure. 

“Stop thinking so loudly”, murmured Hiro suddenly and snuggled up to him.   
“Sorry”, whispered Tadashi. “I just… Nothing. Go back to sleep.”  
Yawning loudly, Hiro pushid himself up on his elbow, chin held up by his hand. “Now, I’m awake again. What’s wrong, ‘Dashi?”  
Tadashi turned his head away, looking into the opposite direction. “Really nothing. It’s stupid.”  
“If it is stupid, it can’t be nothing.”  
Damn Hiro and his intelligence. Groaning annoyed, Tadashi turned to face the ceiling.   
“I was’t able to protect you. Again”, started Tadashi and continued before Hiro could say anything. “I know, you can stand your ground, I’ve heard enough. But I’m your older brother, I should be the one who is stronger, who rescues you.”  
“I’m not a damsel in distress. I’ve fought a crazy gone demigod and someone similar and I won!”   
There was clear anger in Hiro’s voice and his grip around Tadashi’s arm tightened. But the older Hamada didn’t care because his brother brought in a topic he wanted to discuss for a while now even though it was a very hard one.   
“Why did you never tell me what happened? I know basically everything about Lucifer but nothing about my own death!”  
“T-that’s not the topic right now! We’re talking about you being a macho!”, argued Hiro and was there slight panic in his voice?  
“How can I not be a macho if I don’t know what you’re capable of?” He knew that this was kinda mean but he couldn’t care right now. The silence that followed though had him short from giving in. Hiro had gone all tense next to him and Tadashi didn’t like that at all. He wanted his brother to be comfortable around him. Thankfully Hiro started talking before he had to give in to this strange and somehow primal urge.   
“What is the last thing you remember?” His voice was so small, so full of emotion. Tadashi swallowed heavily.  
“I run back into the burning university to save professor Callaghan. But I couldn’t find him anywhere. And then, I caught fire.” Tadashi spared the following details but couldn’t supress the shudder running down his spine. 

“… He wasn’t there because he stole my project. He stole it to take revenge for his daughter.”  
“W-what?” This couldn’t be true. But the more Hiro told him about Robert and Abigail Callaghan, Alistair Krei and how he, Baymax and their friends from Uni became super heroes to fight the mad professor, the more did he believe it. And how could he not? But the feelings of betrayal, anger, sadness and pain grew, the more Hiro told him and by the end of the story, both siblings were clinging onto each other, tears in their eyes and heart aching. Though Robert has had his happy ending with his daughter coming back alive and all that, Hiro had still believed that his brother had been death and then the incident with the shadow travell and the almost being killed by an automaton thing today… needless to say it had been a bit too much. 

“He had been like a father to me”, whispered Tadashi, voice so low that Hiro almost didn’t hear it.   
“Yeah, I know”, answered the younger Hamada, holding onto the older one tightly. “I’m sorry.”  
“It wasn’t your fault.”   
Hiro did not answer that because he knew but still. If you loose someone, there is no way you won’t ask yourself if you couldn’t have prevented it.   
At some point did the two of them fell asleep. Their tears dried and their bodies relaxed but the told things might still haunt their dreams.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go ^-^  
> I hope you like this, feel free to tell me if you have any suggestions! ^~^

Chapter 7

*Location: Quebec, Canada*

A very loud knock at the door was what woke the two Hamadas up next morning. Tadashi groaned and got out from under the covers to open the door while Hiro yawned and rubbed his eyes.   
When he made his way to the door, where the knocking still continued, the memories of their talk came rushing back to his brain. A big knot formed in Tadashi's throat and he swallowed. Everything inside him screamed that it couldn't be true, that he could not have been betrayed like that, but on the other hand did he know that Hiro would never lie to him. 

In front of the door stood a very pissed Sebastian. Before Tadashi could ask what was wrong, the hotel owner said: "Could you please take your hellhound out of my cafeteria? She's going through the entire buffet without any signs of stopping any time soon!"

***********************

The sight that greeted them when the three demigods entered the cafeteria was priceless. The courtains were still closed for the night but some of them were ripped into pieces. Food was everywhere, on the floor, on the tables, on the walls, total chaos. The chef of the kitchen stood next to the door for the waitors, a pan in his hands and tears running down his cheeks - hours of work for nothing.  
And in the middle of it, a giant black dog, munching on what looked like a bowl of fresh bacon, the bowl getting kicked by her wagging tail all the time.   
"Get this monster outa here or I swear it will end in this pan!", screamed the cook.

Have you ever tried catching something with the ability to shadow travel? In a very shadowy room (because most of the lamps were destroyed or covered with food)?  
No? Well, try imaging a very big and curious bunny. But you would never know were it would appear next so you keep running from one end of the room to the other, hoping that the hellhound would not interpret this as a game.

It took the three of them a bit more then thirty minutes to lure Mrs. O'Leary back into the backyard of the hotel - and all the meat, frozen or not, that the kitchen had to offer.   
They had tried to order the underworldly creature which had gotten them a few licks through their faces and a growl that sounded like laughter before the hellhound lady had walked over to ravish the dessert buffet. Could a hellhound get sick from chocolate too like any ordinary dog?  
Trying to pull her out of the room was similar unsuccessful. Only the thought of getting more meat got Mrs. O'Leary to follow them out of the cafeteria.  
Needless to say that Sebastian was not amused. 

Since everyone was awake after that, the siblings stayed at the cafeteria to help cleaning the room and eat something themselves.   
While munching his cereals, Tadashi asked a question that had been on his tongue for a while now.  
"When are we going to tell aunt Cass?"  
Hiro froze, his spoon halfway to his mouth.  
"Errrr... dunno?"  
"I thought about you telling her about your mission and then explaining how I... got a second chance", continued Tadashi.   
Hiro didn't say anything, just put his spoon back into his cereals. His expression shifted from serious to worried and back to serious.  
"You weren't planning of telling her any time soon, right?", guessed Tadashi as he got the silent message. When his brother nodded, Tadashi's heart ached.   
"Why?", asked the older Hamada, his voice down to a low whisper.  
"Look... I know aunt Cass is strong. But she's been through so much lately. I'm not sure if she'd take it well when we tell her that not even death is safe", Hiro tried to explain.  
"But..."  
"I promise I'll think about something, Tadashi", promised Hiro. 

When had they switched their roles? Since when was Hiro acting like he was the older one, the responsible one?  
Tadashi didn't argue any further though. He didn't want to cause trouble between the two of them, didn't want to upset Hiro. But he knew that if he would stay there any longer, he might most likely explode so he just got up and left. He felt Hiro's eyes on his back but he didn't look over his shoulder to check.

**************

One hour later, the two Hamadas, Mrs. O'Leary and Sebastian were standing in the backyard, ready for leaving Quebec. Hiro shoot him some glances from time to time but Tadashi ignored them. Not the nicest thing to do and definetly not the right one but Tadashi felt kinda betrayed at the moment and he did not wish to say something wrong so he just shut up.

"Good luck, guys! I hope you'll be successfull on your quest", said Sebastian before he left them alone.  
Hiro crawled onto their hellhound's back and reached out to help Tadashi. He could see the held back emotions in his brother's eyes and the fear. Tadashi was afraid too. They needed to shadow travel again. Now they would find out if Tadashi had just gotten overwhelmed the last time or if Nico was right and the death was calling him.

Tadashi grabbed Hiro's offered hand and climbed behind him. Seconds later were they were surrounded by total darkness.   
At first, everything was fine. As fine as it could be anyway. But then, Tadashi heard them again. Those voices, those whispers, calling out for him to join them. He felt the pull inside him as if his soul was trying to leave his body.  
No, he couldn't let that happen! Hiro needed him, heck, he himself needed this, wanted this, wanted to live!!  
Tightening his grip onto Hiro, Tadashi closed his eyes. This was not going to happen!  
But the longer their shadow travel went on, the stronger grew that pull. Tadashi groaned, unable to suppress the sound of pain. He felt like he was ripped into pieces!  
And then, he couldn't hold it anymore. His grip onto his soul slipped and when his eyes went wide, he could even see it!  
But... it wasn't his soul that was floating in the darkness next to them and slowly fadind, no, there was quife the number of souls, six or maybe seven of them. And neither was his! As soon as the last one left his body, the pull faded back to almost nothing and the pain was gone.   
Tadashi didn't have much time to enjoy the jorney or think about what exactly has happened just now, when Mrs. O'Leary stepped out of the shadows and collapsed right away.  
Hello Greenland.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greeeeenlaaaand!!!

Chapter 8

*Location: Somewhwere in Greenland*

“…dashi? TadAshI!”   
Hiro’s voice was breaking and full of panick. Blinking slowly, Tadashi opened his eyes. He was still sitting on Mrs. O’Leary’s back who was out like a candle beneath him. The moment he had opened his eyes, he felt himself being tackled by his younger brother who immediately started crying into his shoulders. While he wrapped his arms around Hiro, Tadashi tried to take in their current location. He knew that they were supposed to be in Greenland…

They were in the middle of nowhere, an old but dead tree standing behind them, probably the source of the shadow they had been stepping through. It was very cold and snowing at the moment, white flakes coming down from the grey cloudy sky.   
Far away you could imagine the skyline of a small city. Nothing big but still a city. When everything was happening as Annabeth had planned it, then this city should be the largest city of Greenland – Nuuk.   
Nuuk is the seat of the greenlandic government and the country’s largest cultural and economic centre. It was also the place where most of Greenland’s citizens lived – around 17.000 people which made almost an entire third of the country’s population. That was one of the reasons why Annabeth had picked Nuuk as their next road stop because they would most likely find a hotel where there wouldn’t be many questions – the anonymity of big cities. And chances for finding someone who understood English where higher here (the official languages where Greenlandic and Danish).

*Updating on location information: somewhere in the area around Nuuk, Greenland*

 

“Hiro?”, asked Tadashi slowly while carefully petting the other Hamada’s head. “What’s wrong?”  
Hiro raised his head and glared up at him, eyes red from crying. “You gave me a damn heart attack, that’s what’s wrong! Again! We’re so going to stop this journey right now!”  
“No, we won’t”, protested Tadashi. “So I blacked out and what? Nothing else? I even woke up faster this time! And…”  
One by one did Tadashi’s memories come back. The pain, the pull, the whispering all around him. And then the…  
Now it was Tadashi’s turn to grab Hiro. “I know what was wrong with me! I remember!”  
Hiro frowned. “Was? As in, it is over now?”  
“Yeah, look…” But Tadashi should not get the chance to explain anything to his brother because suddenly a scream was heard and a blue-white ball crashed into the tree behind them. 

The two Hamadas hastily climbed off of their hellhound taxi and pulled out their weapons – Hiro his greek fire blaster and Tadashi his sword. Was this a real monster? Or something else? Was someone being attacked by a monster? Or was this a human who had an accident?   
Step by step did they approach the thing that fell into a gathering of snow beneath the old tree.

Suddenly, the blue-whithe-ball-thing moved and groaned. A head popped out beneath the snow, a human head with pale skin and white hair. Said head shook itself to get rid of the snow on it and so did the rest of the body. A human body, wearing a blue hoodie and brown leather trousers and no shoes. Wasn’t he freezing?  
“Who are you?”, asked Tadashi, causing the stranger to freeze and snap his eyes open. And what kind of eyes! Bright blue and sparkling like the frozen sea in the sun. Said eyes whidened and the guy screamed, pointing at something behind them. They jerked around and what they saw let their jaws drop into Tartarus. 

In front of them stood a giant figure made out of ice, sharp fangs and claws and all that shit, eyes glowing somehow and did Tadashi mention the giantness of that thing? (He really couldn’t care if that even was a word at that moment.)  
For a second, they all just looked at each other, which was a huge mistake. At least out of the prospektive of the demigods. The surprise passed away and the monster didn’t seem to care too much if it had to deal with one little human being or with three. It just growled and raised one of his big fists, letting it slam down towards them. Tadashi jumped and pulled Hiro with him. They hit the ground and felt the vibration of the monster’s fist hitting the place they had been standing at a few seconds ago.   
“What is this?”, screamed Hiro, question adressed to the white-haired guy but he didn’t answer. He kept looking around and digging through the snow as if he was looking for something, not caring about the siblings or the ice monster. Tadashi just hoped that he wasn’t looking for his contact lenses but for a proper weapon to kill this ice giant.   
Said monster was slamming his fists, both of them this time, down towards them again. But since they were still sitting on the frozen ground, there was no way they could run away fast enough. Granted the big size of it didn’t support fast moves but it was still fast enough to maybe kill them. While Tadashi raised his sword to block the fist, Hiro raised his greed fire blaster insteat and shot.

Where the ice got into contact with the greek fire, it melted pretty fast and the ice monster howled in pain. It drew back immediately and where his fists had been was only a dripping mess left.   
“AAAAaaaaaah!” Suddenly, the other guy was back. He was holding a wooden staff, and was actually flying!? What the…?  
But before Tadashi could thing of a prober ending for this curse, did the blue eyed one aim his staff at the monster and shoot a blast of ice at it. The monster raised what was left of his hands in protection but that only lead to his arms freeze together. Now the ice giant had kind of an ice hammer instead of two ice hands and Tadashi wasn’t sure what was worse. The monster started to punch his new weapon through the air, hitting on everything and nothing at the same time. It seemed as if it had gotten mad by now.  
While Tadashi and Hiro managed to stand up and ran out of reach, the stranger kept shooting at the monster, freezing it’s feet and the space between one arm and the body. The more he froze, the more did the monster loose it’s ability to move freely. Which was good.

But just when Tadashi got his hopes up that maybe this would be over soon and easy, the flying one was hit by the former-hands-now-ice-hammer and crashed into the old tree again. And while he was sliding down, the monster somehow managed to break the ice from its feet and came towards the two of them.   
Tadashi’s brain was overthrowing itself with ideas of how to solve this problem and keep Hiro safe – and maybe also the other one – but he couldn’t think about the one solution. He saw Hiro raising his blaster again but he knew that it wouldn’t do much out of this distance and getting any nearer was way too dangerous.   
By now, the ice giant came to stand in front of them, growling and fighting against it’s icy boundaries. 

While his brain was busy, Tadashi’s body acted on instinct. Before he could do something about it or even register it, he felt himself shifting into his full dragon form. Damn, he was a dragon! Dragons were fire creatures! Why hadn’t he thought about that earlier? Tadashi felt it more than he saw that Hiro had shifted too.   
Together, the two dragon siblings turned towards the ice monster, smoke coming out of their nostrils. Within seconds, the ice giant was a melted puddle onto the freshly tawed ground. 

Tadashi turned to face Hiro, who was growling happily and immediately tackled his older brother. Tadashi growled too, and whithin seconds, the two siblings had forgotten about everything but their little battle. They rolled through the snow, leaving a melted path behind them, clawing and biting each other playfully. It was fun, so much fun and Tadashi was impressed how many instincts he had and how good they worked. How much control he had over a body he just knew for a month or something like that.   
At some point, Tadashi managed to takle Hiro to the ground with no space to attack or flee for the smaller dragon. Hiro struggled for a while which caused Tadashi to growl again. Didn’t he see that there was no other way out of this than submitting to him? Wait what? Where did this come from? Hiro was his brother, why in the name of their father would Tadashi want for him to submit?  
Before he could think about the strangeness of this strain of thoughts, Hiro did indeed bare his neck for the older one in submission, eyes still locked with Tadashi’s though – this part of him wasn’t giving in so easily. Tadashi burried his nose in Hiro’s neck, scenting his brother, before getting up and finally changing back into his human form. 

For a few seconds, he regretted that he had given up on this strong and very cool boddy and these regrets just grew when he realized that when he had shifted, his clothes had been ripped into pieces. Great, now he was standing in the middle of Greenland, in the snow, with nothing to cover himself. But this was at least a body he knew how to handle and not some weird, driven by strange instinct dragon body who had actually scented his brother or wanted him to submit! What was that for a thing? Maybe he could ask Annabeth to do some research for him? But then he would need to tell her about this mess inside of his head and all that shit and he definetly didn’t want that. Hopefully he’d get answers when they would reach Russia.

Suddenly, someone cleared his throat. Turning his head, Tadashi saw the very embarrassed face of the white haired stranger. A faint violet was covering his cheeks as an interpretation of a very bright blush. What was it with this guy?  
“Errr… I’d like to proper thank you guys but maybe you could put on some cothes first? Yes?”  
Hiro came running up to them, laughing and shoving Tadashi over towards Mrs. O’Leary who was still sleeping under the old tree. The monster most likely hadn’t done anything to her since she was supposed to be on his side, there was no other way Tadashi could think of why the ice monster hadn’t turned her into a puddle of bones and blood while she was sleeping.   
They grapped each a bunch of new clothes and then went over to the other guy. They sat down next to him on the frozen ground and rubbed their arms and legs to warm up some. While they had been in their dragon form, everything had been fine because of their higher body temperature but now that they were human again, the air and the ground were damn cold!

“Good… maybe I should introduce myself first…”, started the blue eyed one. The Hamada siblings nodded in sync.   
“Well, maybe you have heard about me before. My name is Jack Frost.”  
The squealing of Hiro stopped Tadashi from digging through his brain for the name Jack Frost.  
“Jack Frost?? As in father frost? Snow bringer and the nipping at your nose thing?” Ah, so that was it.  
The other guy, Jack, nodded, a bright smile on his face. “Jup, that’s me. And you guys safed my… life. Thank you for that!”  
“No problem”, said Tadashi, looking back and forth between fanboy-Hiro and amused Jack Frost.   
“It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen dragons until today”, stated Jack then, causing both of them to gasp.  
“You have seen other dragons? Where? Who?”  
Jack shook his head. “That was over at least hundred years ago. I’m a creature of ice myself, I mostly avoid fire and it’s children. I know basically nothing more then how they look like.”  
A part of Tadashi liked the sound of that – children of the fire. And it fit them in more then just one way. But the other part of him was sad that Jack couldn’t tell them something new about dragons.  
Jack must have sensed their sadness because now he asked: “Isn’t there anything else I could help you two to express my thankfulness properly?”  
Tadashi shook his head. “No. But since we’re on a quest for answers anyway, we’ll just continue and hope for the best, but thank you.”  
“Oh, you are travelling? Where to? Maybe I could take you with me and shorten your way a bit?”, offered Jack, smile returning to his face.   
“You mean, you could take the two of us, our package and our hellhound lady over there with you?”, asked Hiro skeptically while looking Jack up and down. Despite only having two hands, Frost wasn’t overly muscular either.   
Jack laughed and got up. “You forget that I’m a magical creature. I just need to ask the wind to carry all of us and guide you to… to the next country on your route, maybe?”  
Hiro nodded slowly. “That would be Norway… you think that would work?”  
Jack nodded. “Absolutely. Just get onto your… lady over there and hold on tight.”  
The siblinds did as they were told and when they gave Jack their okay, the white haired one waved with his staff and a strong wind lifted them off the ground. Tadashi immediately felt his stomach shift. This was going to be a horrible trip, he was sure of it!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait ':)  
> If you find any mistakes, feel free to tell me.

Chapter 9 

*Location – Oslo, (Kingdom of) Norway, Europe*

Norway was… green. And so was Tadashi’s face when Jack Frost finally let them down. The white haired guy had taken them all the way up to Oslo, the capital city.   
While Hiro got down from Mrs. O’Leary to say goodbye and thank you to the ice fairy, Tadashi leaned down and hid his face in the hellhound’s fur, trying to soothe his upset stomach. He wasn’t sure why he felt like puking. He’d never been afraid of highs and since he was a dragon and had wings for gods’ sake, he should have no problem with flying either, right? Not that he understood anything of this, really…

A few minutes later, the older Hamada heard Jack Frost fly away and Hiro walking back to him.   
“Tadashi? Are you okay?”, asked Hiro, voice soft though with hidden amusement.   
“Yeah, totally fine”, groaned Tadashi and let himself slide down to the ground, landing on his back. He squinted one eye open and looked up to his brother, giving him a thumbs up.  
“Great”, grinned Hiro. “Why not look for a place to stay then? Come up, old man!”  
After a few deap breaths, Tadashi felt good enough to do as he was told. Toghether, they managed to wake up Mrs. O’Leary and walked past the woods they had landed in and down to a road – where they found a bus stop. 

“Why do they have a bus stop in the middle of nowhere?”, wondered Hiro while looking through the plan when the next bus should arive.  
“Annabeth said, that the public transportation system in and around Oslo is very devellopped. You can even find many rentable bikes in the city and the metro-system is also very extensive”, explained Tadashi.  
“Hmm… I wonder if they’ll transport a hellhound too. The next bus should come within the next thirty minutes.”  
“She might just look like a large dog for them”, said Tadashi and took a seat on the wooden bank next to the schedule, closing his eyes for a while. He could really use a nap.

Not that he’d get one with his younger sibling around.  
“Err… Tadashi? Would you like something to eat?“  
“No way. I think if I’d just smell food, I’d puke onto your feet”, declined Tadashi, eyes ripped open again when he heard the sound of ripping plastic. Whithout bothering, Hiro bit into the chocolate of a snack.  
“Man, you really need to get over it. If the bus driver sees you all green, he might not take us into his vehicle”, stated the younger Hamada in a serious tone.   
Tadashi huffed. “Not that I’m literally green, okay?”  
“But you are.”  
“What?” Tadashi was confused. Hiro swallowed another bite and grinned.  
“Your face is green. Covered with green scales here and there.”  
“No way!” But Hiro just took out a mirror – where did he get that from? – and held it in front of his face. And indeed, he had green scales all over his cheeks.   
“Damn…”, whispered Tadashi, and leaned back again. Since he didn’t know what else to do, he closed his eyes again and breathed slowly. The scent of the woods and earth had a surprisingly calming effect. He tried to ignore the influence of Hiro’s snack and when his brother finally finished eating it, he could concentrate fully onto smelling the natural scent. His stomach stopped shifting as uncomfortable after a while but he still didn’t trust it enough to actually eat something. 

They sat there in silence for a while, maybe ten minutes or so, Tadashi didn’t know. But at some point, Hiro started talking again.  
“Tadashi?”  
“Hm?”  
“What did you want to tell me back in Greenland?”  
Tadashi turned to look at his brother. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, sorry?”  
“You said, you know why you are that effected by shadow traveling. And that it is over”, explained Hiro.   
“Oh, that”, said Tadashi, leaning back some again. Then he started to tell what had happened during their last shadow travel to Greenland. How he’d been in pain, how he’d fought it and how the pieces of souls or maybe even complete souls had left his body. And how he’d felt fine after they’d faded into the shadows.   
Hiro listened with a frown on this face.  
“We should talk to Nico about that”, said Hiro after a while and took out his IRIS-PHONE.   
“You should wait with that. I have no idea how early it is here…”  
“Quarter to eight.”  
“Well, then it’s quarter to two a.m. in New York and Nico would kill you if you’d wake him at a time like this.”  
“… damn”, agreed Hiro, pocketing his invention again and leaning back as well, waiting for the bus. 

********************************

The two Hamadas rented a small room at a 24-hours-hotel and secretly tool Mrs. O’Leary up to their room. Animals were not allowed in there but they couldn’t let her stay in an alley somewhere in the neighborhood, right?  
Tadashi figured that they had to wait at least five to seven hours until they could consider calling the son of Hades so he suggested to sleep a bit too. The last time the two of them had gotten actual sleep must have benn in Canada for gods’ sake! 

After six or so hours though, Tadashi couldn’t sleep anymore. Hiro was still out like a candle, looking so cute and lost in the big double bed, the siblings were sharing. Tadashi remembered the day they had moved in with aunt Cass – Hiro had been a small toddler and looked so lost and sad in his slightly too large bed that Tadashi had picked him up and took him inside his own bed for sibling cuddles.   
Feeling older brother feelings kicking in, Tadashi decided to go out and buy something healthy for… lunch? Or maybe for dinner, he wasn’t sure. Just that he wanted to eat something healthy within the next few hours.

(*A/N: I’ve never been to Norway so I have no idea, how many people speak English up there. So this is completely out of my imagination. Feel free to yell at me if you need to, but remember, this is pure fiction!)

Sure, Tadashi knew from Annabeth that in Norway, the people spoke Norwegian, but he wouldn’t have thought that he’d need to go through the total of three supermarkets to find someone who could understand English and sell him what he needed for cooking what he had in mind. Which wasn’t something special, just a normal vegetable soup but hey, vegetables! Tadashi intended to cook them over a tiny flame of Greek fire since there wasn’t an actual kitchen in their room. But they were children of Hephaestus – if they wouldn’t think about a solution for this, then who would?  
In his thoughts, Tadashi was already planning how to save the room from burning, when he opened the door. He heard Hiro talking behind the wood that seperated the room from the hallway so he figured, his little brother was awake and probably discussing him with the child of the Underworld.   
“Hey, Hiro, I’m back”, greeted Tadashi. “Did you manage to call Nico?”  
The sight in front of him though, took every words off his tongue. These days, Hiro had improved his IRIS-PHONE so that you could actually see whom you were talking to and the other way round. Tadashi didn’t understand how exactly this worked but he knew that it had something to do with the rainbow goddess Iris. He couldn’t care less though. Because right now, he was staring at the seethrough face of aunt Cass. 

The room was silent for a while, before Cass Hamada opened her mouth and asked in a horrified tone: “What have you done, Hiro?”  
Tadashi couldn’t help but flinche. Their aunt must be thinking that Hiro had gone through something like offering a body to get him back to life or another horrible ritual. Would she even believe that he was indeed back in life, that he’d gotten a second chance? Heck, he didn’t believe it himself, at least not fully. How was he supposed to convince her?  
“Look, aunty, you remember the quest I told you about?”, started Hiro awkwardly. Tadashi listened without actually listening how his little brother went on a quest for Lord Hades to get a couple of souls, his own one included, back from the insane child named Lucifer. How Nico had taken the souls into his own body, how Hades had given him a second chance while turning a blinde eye on him.   
Cass kept staring at him and he could see the tears in her eyes while she took in every little move. His eyes burned with dry tears. He wanted to run over and hug his aunt, hug and feel the woman who had been as close as a mother to them for over a decade. But he knew, the moment he’d touch the rainbow-y image in the air, the connection would be over. 

When Hiro finished his explanations, aunt Cass was crying.  
“Why haven’t you told me immediately, Hiro? Why didn’t you come home?” Those were questions, Tadashi has had too, but he also knew, that they would endanger Cass with visiting her.   
“I… We… we’ll come as soon as this is over”, promised Hiro and when Cass nodded in agreement, the image suddenly dissappeared. The battery was broken again. Cursing slightly, Hiro took a tool from next to him and tried to fix it but it would take a while to call their aunt again. Tadashi turned his head a bit and watched Hiro, without saying anything. When Hiro noticed the look on his brother’s face, he made a face.  
“What? Don’t tell me you weren’t happy to see her.” Tadashi’s eyes whidened a bit.  
“I was happy to see her but I would have loved to actually know you would call her the second I’d leave the room!”  
Hiro looked as if he’d been slapped. “Well… I just… tried to prepare her for… you?”  
“Forget it”, huffed Tadashi and burried his face in the pillows. Part of him knew that nothing could prepare someone for a death person back alive but still. The look on Cass’ face when she’d first seen him… like he was a demon out of hell. 

The mattress dipped as Hiro crawled up to him.   
“I’m sorry, ‘Dashi”, whispered the younger Hamada and Tadashi could hear the hidden tears in the other’s voice. He immediately felt bad for making his little brother sad but he still felt kinda betrayed. Hiro could at least have told him that he had plans about telling Cass today.   
“It was a spontaneous idea and I didn’t really think it through…”, Hiro’s voice broke. Tadashi couldn’t help but turn over and pull him into a tight hug. Dry sobs were shaking the teen and reminded Tadashi that Hiro was just fourteen years old. Barely a teenager.   
“It’s okay”, said Tadashi. “I’m sorry too. It’s just such a damn mess.”

They stayed like that until they had calmed down again, neither of them saying a word. From what they had heard at Camp, living with the gods was always a damn mess. Yay…


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

*Location – Oslo, (Kingdom of) Norway, Europe*

A wet dream.   
One might think that you would stop having those after dying and coming back to life and being traumatised and all that shit. Well, seems you’ve been believing the wrong thing. Because the dream Tadashi was having was the total cliché-like wet dream.   
But that was all of the cliché that got fulfilled. It was not a hot girl that was panting beneath him, no, the small and flat-chested person was definitely male. The guy had his arms wrapped around Tadashi’s neck, clinging onto him, his hair a dark mess on the pillows. This was new and it kinda frightened Tadashi, if he was honest. He had never thought about doing those things with a male ever and now his dream self was acting as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Like an instinct.   
Somehow, this phrasing had something ring in the back of his mind but he couldn’t really grab that thought. Another freak-out reason was that the person seemed to be definitely younger, than himself and since Tadashi was just seventeen, he was sharing a bed with some underaged kid and that was definitely too much for Tadashi to take. Aside from the fact that the person was faceless… there really was no face between the sweaty hair! Only skin and a pair of pink lips, the rest was hidden by a strange kind of mist.

Before Tadashi could freak out in his dream mind, that faceless face came closer and closer and … licked his nose?  
Irritated did the older Hamada open his eyes, only to find himself face to face with an animal. He had never seen this race for real but he definetly recognised an elk when he saw one. The elk seemed to look him up and down with its big eyes, snout only one feet or something away from his face.   
“Hiro?”, whispered the older teen while he nudged his brother. Hiro was curled together next to him, one arm hugging him and his head resting on Tadashi’s chest. Now he groaned a bit, lifting his hand to rub his eyes.  
“What is it, ‘Dashi?”, asked Hiro, voice low and hoarse from sleeping.   
“Why is there an elk in our room?”  
“What? You must be joki…” Hiro didn’t finish his sentence but stared at the Norwegian animal, gaping. “But… we’re at the fourth floor…”

As if the elk had understood that, the big animal grinned. Tadashi frowned. Was it normal for elks to grin? And why was it having such sharp looking teeth? Suddenly, the dark and amused eyes turned into a ruby red pair and on the elk’s back, a giant pair of wings came into sight. The not so ordinary elk opened his mouth and roared very un-elk-y, sharp teeth glistening in the dim light.   
Within seconds did the two Hamadas hurry over to the other end of the bed, each of them grabbing a sword.   
“What in Tartarus is that?”, screamed Tadashi when the supernatural elk bit into the sheets where his head had been seconds ago.  
“A killer elk!”, answered Hiro and jumped off the bed as the killer elk climbed onto it, crawling over to them. With a loud crack did the wood give in and the mattress crashed to the ground under the bed. How were they going to explain that to the hotel manager? 

The loud noise did wake Mrs. O’Leary and the hellhound lady growled dangerously at the elk. Tadashi noticed the chance of surprise and dug his sword into the big head of the monster. But instead of turning into dust like every good monster, the killer elk just turned his head and looked at him, eyes full of anger and a certain hunger. It would have looked funny, an elk with a sword sticking out of his head, if the elk wouldn’t have wanted to eat them.   
“We need to get out of here”, screamed Hiro, bag already on his back. Tadashi agreed silently, nearly stumbling over his own feed while they ran out of their hotel room, pulling Mrs. O’Leary along. The elk followed them and the wood of the door vibrated, when the killer elk collided with it. That was when Tadashi had an idea. Hastily, he dug through his pockets, ignoring Hiro and the cracking sounds that told him that the wood gave in slowly.   
There! Ripping his hand out, Tadashi threw a few bean-like nuts onto the floor in front of the door. It were a few of those grass seeds, Grover had given him for their quest.  
Within seconds, large roots grew from the floor, hiding the door behind them and muffling the ramming sound of the killer elk behind it.  
The siblings weren’t too eager to examine the magical roots closer, they took the next fire escape and fled the hotel.

*******************************

It had been evening when Hiro had called Cass, Tadashi caught him and their fight. The killer elk had attacked them in the early morning and now the two sat in a park, panting and being totally shocked. They knew they would be forever traumatised and never be able to come near any kind of elk ever again.  
A few tools also got lost because the monster didn’t give them enough time for proper packing but it wasn’t too bad. Maybe they would stop by a tool marked before leaving for Sweden.   
“I hope there won’t be happening something similar in each and every country we stop by”, said Hiro after a while and Tadashi nodded in agreement. The automaton in Canada, the ice giant in Greenland and now a killer elk in Norway – it might sound racist but wasn’t a dragon supposed to be a monster too? So them being half dragons half gods should somehow make them less attractive for monsters because they partly were one, right? But maybe the mixture of godly genes and monster attracted even more monsters because they thought there was a demigod caught by another monster and the others wanted a piece of the prey-cake? Whatever it was, Tadashi needed to stop thinking about it because his head started to ache. 

“You two look like you have been stamped into the ground by a herd of elks”, said someone suddenly. When the two Hamadas looked up, they couldn’t believe who was standing in front of them. But before they could think of something to say, the two got tackled by a happy puppy automaton.  
“What are you doing here, Sebastian?”, asked Tadashi while petting the metal dog’s head.   
The green haired man shrugged. “This little guy missed you so I thought, why not take a holiday and bring him to you?”  
“Awesome!”, said Hiro. “I missed you too, little one.” Then he looked over to Tadashi and the older Hamada knew exactly what was about to happen.  
“Nonono, forget it!”  
“But ‘Dashi…”  
“Don’t ‘Dashi’ me, Hiro. You know we can’t take him with us!”, said the older one seriously.   
“But he missed us! And I’m sure, he doesn’t need that much space, right?” Hiro turned to the bronze puppy. “Show me the smallest form of yours.”  
The dog wagged his tail and immediately shifted into a tiny little ball, fitting right into Hiro’s hand.  
“What is that?”, wondered Tadashi, staring at the bronze ball. He’d never heard of an animal that looked like a ball.   
“Maybe some kind of sleeping mode?”, guessed Sebastian, who had watched the scene without saying something.   
“Well, whatever it is, it’s definitely small enough so that we can take it with us”, stated Hiro and stared into Tadashi’s eyes expectantly. 

Tadashi damned the day he accidentally had told his little brother that his greatest weakness was the sad look in the other’s eyes. Just like the look, Hiro put on know. Big eyes, eyebrows raised and lip pouting a bit. Tadashi frowned. Those lips, he had seen them before. His eyes went wide when he remembered where he had seen them before. Those lips belonged to the faceless stranger in his dream! No way, this couldn’t be true! He couldn’t feel like that for his little brother and he really didn’t! But when Hiro pouted like that…  
Tadashi felt his face heat up and he gave in, even if it was just for Hiro to stop pouting. “Geez, fine! But if it causes any kind of trouble, you’ll take care of it, understood?”  
The younger Hamada beamed and nodded, before he threw himself at Tadashi, hugging him tight. Then, he ran over to Mrs. O’Leary to put their newest family member into one of their pockets. 

“What’s wrong, Tadashi?”  
Tadashi turned to see Sebastian frown. “Why would there be anything wrong? Aside from this monster-god-mess that is?”  
“I am a child of Aphrodite, you can’t hide feelings from me, especially not if they have something to do with love”, stated the older one unimpressed. “So, what is it? When you looked at Hiro a few moments ago, there was a giant mess of feelings, so much, I couldn’t quite catch it. Not there isn’t always a mess because people feel much more then one thing at a time but still… what happened since Canada?”

Tadashi shook his head. He really didn’t know. Much had changed, not only since Canada. The moment he had seen Hiro for the first time after his time in the Underworld, how he had learned about their godly father and their dragon-genes. How he had gotten to know his powers, his instincts. Him and Hiro had been through so much, they weren’t the same persons anymore but still kinda the same if that even made sense. This was all so much confusing and new and a lot of things turned out to be frightening to Tadashi. He didn’t like how his instincts made him behave around Hiro from time to time. The moment he had seen him train with Leo at Camp for example or after their fight in Greenland. And now this weird dream. It was as if there were only a few pieces left in this messy puzzle… and he knew who could help him. At least he hoped so.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about”, said Tadashi, putting on a smile. “Everything’s as fine as it could be with a few demigods on a quest.” With that did he turn around and walk over to Hiro, leaving the green haired son of the love goddess behind.  
“Hey, Hiro? Did you fix your IRIS-PHONE already?”  
“Yes, I did. And I think, the battery must work even better this time. Why? You wanna call someone?”, asked the younger one curious.  
“Yes, I need to talk to Annabeth.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I hope the chapter is worth it :)  
> I also wrote out the entire rest of plot for this fic, so I hope I can update faster in the future.  
> Thanks for the comments and kudos, they are my biggest motivation!!!

Chapter 11

*Location – Oslo (Kingdom of) Norway, Europe*

“You met an elk in Norway, so what?”  
“That’s all you got out of this?”, asked Tadashi and continued his pacing. He knew that he didn’t have much time before either Sebastian or Hiro would come and look after him but this was important. After he had gotten the IRIS-PHONE from Hiro, Tadashi had gone as far away as possible, now hiding in a nearby alley. He had called Annabeth and told her everything that had happened in the past days in a rush, hoping the daughter of Athena would catch on. Apparently not.  
“Have you any idea what time it is here right now? I was sleeping!”, stated the blonde with a glare and pushed a strain of hair out of her face. “So, let me get this straight. You feel as if your instincts slowly take over your mind and body because you feel the urge to have your brother submit to you and be in control and have him safe. And additional to that, you also had a wet dream about Hiro?”  
“Ye-es”, hissed Tadashi and closed his eyes. His face felt kind of on fire but he needed to know what the bloody Underworld was going on or he would go insane.  
Annabeth took a deep breath at the other end of the line. “Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on. My first thought was, that you as the older one have a natural urge to have the younger one of your pack submit to you and being the leader. As such it is only natural to be in control and have your pack safe. But that doesn’t agree with the… other thing on your list.”  
“Right…”, sighed Tadashi. “So you have no idea what’s going on either.”  
“No. But I promise I’ll do some research later. Right now, I’ll go back to sleep and you should go back to your brother and that friend of yours before they’d get suspicious”, promised Annabeth with a fond look on her face.   
Tadashi beamed. That was exactly what he had hoped for. “Thank you, Annie!”  
“No problem. Be safe!”

***********************

“How’s Annabeth?”, asked Hiro when Tadashi joined them again. Mrs. O’Leary was already eager to either play or continue their journey and Sebastian was gone.  
“Fine. I just woke her, but I needed to discuss something about our journey with her. Where’s Sebastian?”, asked Tadashi, trying to change the topic.   
“He said that he had something else to do in the city and that he needed to go back home too. He asked me to greet you and wished us a safe ride”, answered Hiro. Tadashi nodded. Of course the son of Aphrodite needed to go back home, he had a hotel to manage after all. Offering a holiday just to bring them their automaton puppy was a very nice gesture. 

“So, Sweden it is, then, right?”, asked Hiro, already half on top of their hellhound taxi.   
“Yes, Sweden. And preferably right to Stockholm”, confirmed Tadashi and helped Hiro up.   
“Did you know that Stockholm also is the most populous city of Sweden? I wonder if it’s more agricultural there since Stockholm is more in the southern part of the kingdom or if it’s more forested like the north or nothing like that. What do you think?”  
Hiro laughed. “I think that you sound like Annabeth right now. Or maybe Wikipedia.”  
Tadashi made a face while he climbed up behind his little brother. There he tried to make this quest funny and teach his little brother something and all the other did was making fun of him.   
“Naaaw, c’mon, ‘Dashi. Don’t pout. I was just making fun“, cooed Hiro and turned around, one hand resting on Tadashi’s tight. Tadashi flinched and tried to cover it with a real pout and crossed arms.   
“Whatever. Can we travel now or what?”  
Hiro raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Mrs. O’Leary? Let’s go to Sweden!”

Shadow travelling was still somewhat like riding a roller coster, but not too bad. It was creepy, of course and Tadashi could tell that he definitely felt watched but he didn’t feel any pain. There was just this luring voice in his mind that told him to try out and jump off of Mrs. O’Leary, explore the shadowy kingdom. But this time, his own thoughts were way too loud for Tadashi to mind that voice.   
How long would he be able to hide his weird and scary urges from Hiro? How would Hiro react if the other knew the truth about him? How he wanted to have Hiro safe and close, how his skin had tingled at the warmth of Hiro’s body even though there were clothes separating them, how he seemed to see more in him than just his brother and fellow dragon-slash-demigod.   
And then there was this perverted dream, too. Tadashi wasn’t sure if the guy of his dream (no pun intended ;p) really had been Hiro. But even if not, why would he suddenly want a male partner, much less a way too young one? It wasn’t that Tadashi had thought too much about his sexuality, he had just gone along with the standards he knew and that was all about girls. And why would this new side in him, this more animalistic side, push his maybe-gay-ness into the show light? If one had asked him before, Tadashi had told him that an animal and or a monster would at some point in it’s life want to have children, have the instinct to find a partner and breed the other. But how should he do that with another male partner? This was so freaking weird!

************************

“Tadashi?”  
Tadashi looked up from where his vision had dropped in his lap at some point, seeing the partly worried, partly amused look on Hiro’s face. And when he looked past said face… Tadashi’s eyes widened. He must have been damn deep in his thoughts, because they were already out of the shadows and stood in what seemed to be a park. Through the bushes in front of them, he could see cars driving and children walking to school.   
“Something wrong?”, asked Hiro, watching his older brother carefully, worry written all over his face.   
“No, I… was just deep in thoughts, is all”, explained Tadashi hastily and before the other could ask any further, Tadashi slipped off of Mrs. O’Leary’s back and stretched a bit. “So this is Stockholm?”  
Hiro followed his older brother down to the ground. “I think so.” He turned around to the sleeping hellhound lady. “But we’ll be sure as soon as we find a newspaper or something else.”  
“Right…”, Tadashi opened one of their bags, digging through it. “Damn, were’s the list of places where we could spend a night?”  
“Dunno”, shrugged Hiro. “But… may I suggest something?”  
The older Hamada looked up. “Yes?”

With big pleading eyes did Hiro pull a quite large package from behind his back. “Sebastian gave this to me while you were making your call. He said it’s a water-and-monster-proof tent for demigodly camping. Can we try it out, please? He said that not even normal humans could see it, so we would be safe from the police and all. And we won’t need to spend money on a hotel. I guess, they are pretty expensive around here.”  
“We just got attacked by a killer elk and all you can think about is camping?”, asked Tadashi, the tone of his voice telling his disbelieve.   
“Yes”, nodded Hiro eagerly. “It’s been so long since we went on a camping trip!”  
Tadashi frowned. “We never went on a camping trip.”  
“But I did, once with my class. And I always wanted to do that with my big brother one day. Pretty please, Tadashi?”, begged Hiro and Tadashi knew that he couldn’t deny Hiro anything when the other pulled the big-brother-card.   
“Fine, but one of us needs to stay awake in case a monster might proof Sebastian’s super tent wrong”, agreed the older one.   
“Thank you!”, exclaimed Hiro and hugged Tadashi tightly. Since the other was still a bit taller, Hiro’s feet didn’t touch the ground and Tadashi needed to grab his younger brother if he didn’t want for them to hit the ground. 

“Calm down, Hiro!”, laughed Tadashi, pleased that he could make his little brother happy like this.   
“Never”, grinned the younger Hamada but let go of his sibling.   
Tadashi shook his head. “Let’s grab something to eat and then we’ll built up this tent.”  
“Yay, food. Do you think we can find an asian restaurant around here? I want some rice for once?”, asked Hiro while grabbing his bag.   
“We’ll see. Let’s go.”

They had been walking for a while, when suddenly, Hiro stopped. “Tadashi?”  
The other turned around, curious what his sibling had in mind all of a sudden. “Yes?”  
“I love you, you know that?”, said Hiro, face as serious as a fourteen years old could manage.  
Tadashi’s heart ached with a positive pain and he stepped up to his brother, pulling him into a tight hug. “I love you too, Hiro.”  
“Good.” With that did Hiro grab his hand, pulling him along, a content smile on his face. And just then did Tadashi realise that he hadn’t been this happy in a while. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to face any monsters this time, because just this once did he want to enjoy a calm stay with his little brother, not caring about safety and anything, just enjoying Stockholm.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for kudos and comments, they keep me going!   
> Here's the new chapter :)

Chapter 12

*Location – Stockholm, (Kingdom of) Sweden, Europe*

Of course everything possible went wrong. At first they had big troubles building up the stupid tent because there were a few pieces missing. After getting those things from a shop in town, they accidentally burned their food while cooking and had to go and get something else for dinner. That wasn’t bad, just a bit trouble they could have dealt with. But as usual, these were just a few of the drops in the barrel before it would flow over.   
The last drop was the biggest one and with it the metaphorical barrel basically exploded.

They had been taking turns with sleeping and watching out for possible monster attacks – after the missing pieces not even Hiro had been that convinced about the super tent anymore. So when Tadashi woke up Hiro and went to sleep, he was sure that his little brother would watch out and wake him up if necessary. There were only a few hours left until dawn so everything should be fine. 

When Tadashi woke up though, it was for the barking of their automaton puppy. The little one was fighting another automaton who seemed to have approached their place. The two metal monster were fighting pretty bad, their puppy had lost a few screws already and the strange automaton had lost one of it’s legs. Which didn’t seem to hurt him much because he was having thousands of those.   
Grabbing the first thing in his reach – the weapon he had been working on before going to sleep – Tadashi turned around to see were Hiro was. Had the monster hurt him? Was he chasing a second monster?   
While stumbling over his feet, Tadashi found Hiro next to the glowing rest of their little bonfire, wrapped into a blanket. And deep asleep.  
“Hiro!”, screamed the older sibling before running up to their friend, “Wake up!”

Under the united force of the two Hamadas and Mrs. O’Leary – the hellhound lady had waken up with all the fighting around - the monster was easily defeated. It hadn’t been a hard attack – if you don’t take the damage on their automaton too seriously that is – the bad side of this happening was something entirely different. 

“Why the hell were you sleeping?”, yelled Tadashi, throwing a tool onto the ground so hard it stuck in the dirt. “You were on guarding duty!”  
Hiro stood there, watching him tending to their puppy, a hurt look on his face.   
“I… I was just tired and… I fell asleep I guess. But I asked Ciel to watch out for me!”  
Tadashi frowned. “Who is Ciel?”  
“You really need to watch Black Butler. Ciel is the master of Sebastian and since Sebastian brought him back, I thought Ciel would be a fitting name for our puppy”, huffed Hiro and crossed his arms in front of his chest.   
“I don’t care about your stupid shows right now!”, said Tadashi angrily. “We made a deal and said deal did not include Ciel or whatever name he really has!”  
“Oh c’mon! Nothing happened to us after all”, argued Hiro, throwing his arms up in frustration.

Fixing the last screw, Tadashi let go of their puppy and stood up. “Nothing happened? I just had to fix your Ciel! If you care about that automaton so much that you even gave him a name, why don’t you care about his safety too? The point is, I trusted you! And you just sneaked around the corner to get what you want. All you care about is yourself!”  
The last part, Tadashi yelled into Hiro’s face. The younger Hamada blushed, hands balled into fists.  
“I do care!”  
“Yes, as long as it’s good for you! It’s always been that way, even back in San Fransokyo! I bet, I would not have died if you just gone to High School like any ordinary kid your age, but no, Hiro Hamada is so smart, he just skips school and out of boredom, he starts battling in robot battles, needs to go to university and all that shit! I bet if it wasn’t for your damn invention, Professor Callaghan wouldn’t have burned the uni and I wouldn’t have died in the fire while trying to safe him! It’s all because you’re too selfish to care much about the damage you do with it!”

Tadashi was breathing heavily after finishing his speech. Hiro stared at him, eyes wide and arms limb. For a second, Tadashi thought he had gone too far but that was pushed aside fast by the still dominating anger in his entire body.  
“D-do you really think so?”, asked Hiro, voice barely audible.  
“Yes!”, hissed Tadashi.   
“F-fine!” Without saying anything else, the younger sibling grabbed his bag and ran away, followed by a curious Mrs. O’Leary. 

***************************

One hour later, Hiro found himself in another park, sitting on a bench and crying his eyes out. How could Tadashi say such things? Yes, things went terribly wrong from time to time but that wasn’t his fault! Okay, not completely his fault, but hey, mistakes were for learning, right?   
The fourteen years old buried his head on his knees, arms wrapped around his legs. Mrs. O’Leary whined in confusion, nudging him from time to time, eyes filled with worry.   
“Everything will be fine”, whispered Hiro and petted her head, the tone of his voice not even convincing himself. How could anything be fine with Tadashi thinking about him the way he apparently did? 

And there was something else that frightened Hiro. Back when the two of them were fighting, Tadashi had, due to his angered state, shifted into his humanoid dragon form. He had been growling and baring his teeth without noticing, Hiro was sure. Because Tadashi had way less training at using their dragon powers, their other heritage. He was driven by instincts most of the time.   
Which was good, instincts were good! Hiro had learned so much thanks to his instincts. But this time, his instincts told him to lower his head, bare his neck and calm the other down, to give in! And there was no way Hiro would submit to Tadashi just to soothe the other, not when the other was talking shit like that! No way!  
Another sob shook his body. What should he do now? Should he go back and try talking to the older one? He couldn’t stay here forever after all.

Hiro was considering to call Nico and ask his best friend for an advice when suddenly a shadow fell onto him.   
“How come you Hamadas seem even more wracked every time I find you?”, asked a concerned and familiar voice.   
Lifting his head, Hiro stared at the other in disbelief. “What are you doing here? I thought…”  
“I have a second hotel here in the city and I thought, why not go and check on it when I’m up here already”, explained Sebastian and took a seat next to him. “So, would you mind telling me, what had gone wrong this time? Where’s your brother?”  
Swallowing his tears, Hiro started talking. Once started, he couldn’t stop anymore, telling the son of Aphrodite all about their childhood, how his brother had died and him being put into Camp Half-Blood, how Nico and him had gone on a quest and how Tadashi came back to life. How they started their quest to find out what it meant to be a dragon, to find answers and about their fight.   
Sebastian listened, just asking about details from time to time. When Hiro had finished talking, his voice felt sore. The green haired man was deep in thoughts.   
“So your brother basically blamed you to be a useless and selfish brat that doesn’t care about shit. How can he do that after everything the two of you have been through?”  
“I don’t know”, answered Hiro. He was feeling so damn tired right now. Even though Tadashi had taken the first shift yesterday, Hiro hadn’t gotten much sleep. Well, he had slept but he had had weird dreams, scary dreams. The details already faded from his memory though, thanks to the battle and all the stress that had followed after he had been waken up. 

“The way I see it, you need to prove yourself to Tadashi. He needs to see what you are capable of”, stated Sebastian. “Why don’t you finish this quest on your own?”  
Hiro looked up from his lap, surprised.   
If he was being honest, he had considered giving up on their quest and going home. Yes, this whole trip had been partly his idea after Tadashi had gotten the map but everything was just going downhill from the beginning. They had spent so much time planning this trip, researching safe places, packing their things and all that and did it help? No, not really. They had been attacked so many times now and that would probably just continue for the rest of their journey, there was so much they had to deal with. Maybe it was for the best to go home, talk everything through and then decide if they should try for a second time. 

Sebastian must have seen the slight disagree in Hiro’s eyes because he said: “If you go home now, I don’t think you will ever finish this trip. You will try to find out everything learning by doing and maybe that would be a safer option and way easier then this quest. But there are always things only others can tell you. Others that have been through the same. And those answers, you’ll only find in Russia. There is a reason why your mother went there, why your father gave you that map. Don’t be stupid and give up now!”  
The serious look on the other’s face, combined with those words did convince Hiro. Well, not completely, but enough for him to nod in agreement. If Tadashi thought, Hiro was useless and selfish, Hiro would go and do this on his own. Then he would come back, pick up his stupid brother and teach him what he found out. After a serious conversation about how to treat your siblings that is. 

Feeling a rush of fresh energy, Hiro stood up. Mrs. O’Leary followed, curious about what he would do next. She could probably tell that something was going on.   
“Let’s go, Mrs. O’Leary”, said Hiro and started to climb onto her back. He frowned, when suddenly a warm body pressed against him from behind. A look over his shoulder told him, that the child of Aphrodite had taken a seat behind him.   
“What? Do you really think I’d let you go on your own?”, asked Sebastian, a smile on his face.   
“But… don’t you have a hotel to manage?”  
“Oh, they will be fine without me for a while. They always want for me to take a holiday after all because they think I’m a workaholic or something. This is the perfect opportunity. Besides, that’s what friends are for, right?”

Hiro smiled. Sebastian was right. And if he was honest with himself, he was feeling relieved that the other was coming with him. The thought of going all alone was a bit scary if you’d think much about it.   
“Right”, answered Hiro. “Next stop: Finland!”  
Mrs. O’Leary stood up and the next moment, the shadows engulfed them, taking them away from Sweden, from Stockholm and from Tadashi. The thought made Hiro’s heart ache but he pushed that feeling away from him. Tadashi was an idiot and Hiro was going to show him. 

**********************

One hour after their fight, Tadashi had calmed down enough to realise that he had made a big mistake. There had been a true corn in what he had said but he never thought that Hiro was responsible for his dead! Why in the name of the Gods had he said something like that? The anger must have driven him insane. The additional stress had driven him over the edge and everything had been too much.  
Throwing the last of their belongings into his bag, Tadashi took a deep breath. He needed to find Hiro and talk to him.   
The older Hamada walked into the same direction, Hiro had been running not too long ago. Ciel – even though Tadashi didn’t understand the reasons, he too thought that their pet automaton needed a name – made a great show of sniffing the ground and being a proper dog and much to Tadashi’s surprise, the automaton really managed to find Hiro.   
But they were too late. The last thing Tadashi saw, was how Mrs. O’Leary disappeared into the shadows, Hiro on her bag.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed more Nico in this so... more Nico. And some answers for once ;)

Chapter 13

*Location: Stockholm, (Kingdom of) Sweden, Europe*

Who would have thought that finding a source of spraying water to create a damn rainbow could be so damn hard when in Stockholm?  
At first, Tadashi had tried to find something fitting in one of the nearby parks, but without any success. Then he thought that maybe a fake diamond or something similar would do, but that didn’t seem to be found that easily either. So the last possibility the older Hamada came up with, was breaking into a yard and borrow the garden’s water tube.   
That was easier thought then done because half of Sweden seemed to be at home and in the garden today, or if not, then they would not have a tube. After a very agitating conversation with an old lady – the woman had not been amused about Tadashi’s appearance in her yard and had tried to hunt him with her gardening tools – the older Hamada finally found an empty garden with a water tube.   
In the meantime, whenever he wasn’t running away from angry garden owners, Tadashi tried to figure out what was going on. Why would Hiro leave him behind and take Sebastian with him instead? Why was the green haired one even in Sweden? Didn’t he say something about going home? And why did neither of Mrs. O’Leary or Sebastian think about him?

After he had successfully created a rainbow, Tadashi threw his drachma into it and prayed to the rainbow goddess, Iris, how he was told by Annabeth before leaving Camp.  
“Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering and grant me a call to my brother Hiro, probably in Finland.”  
Never would he thought that you could get the “the person you have called is temporarily not available” via Iris Message.   
Tadashi was confused. Were they still shadow travelling? Or did the battery break again? Or did Hiro turn off his IRIS-PHONE?   
For a moment, Tadashi thought about trying again, but then he decided against it. If Hiro didn’t want to talk to him right now, Tadashi should not waste his rare drachmas but find a solution for this mess.   
The second IM he send went straight to Annabeth. The blonde was not amused that Tadashi interrupted her training session, but since she had wanted to call him later that day anyway, she didn’t mind too much. 

“I need your help, Annabeth”, said Tadash, as soon as the other campers the daughter of Athena had been training with had fled the scene.   
The blonde laughed. “After your first call, I figured as much. And I might have found something out…”  
“No, not about that. Hiro and I had a fight and now, he took Mrs. O’Leary and travelled away with Sebastian, probably to Finland! And he doesn’t answer his damn phone!”  
Annabeth frowned. “Who is Sebastian?”  
“A son of Aphrodite who owned the hotel where we stopped by in Quebec. Sebastian Sewell, remember?”, explained Tadashi. “Anyway, what do I do now?”  
“At first, you need to calm down. Maybe Hiro will come back soon”, said the blonde girl in a soothing voice.   
But that didn’t work. Tadashi felt restless and worried as Tartarus. What if something happened to Hiro when the younger one was all alone? Tadashi doubted that Sebastian was much of a fighter, call him an idiot but after the cafeteria scene back in Canada, Tadashi knew how the young man fought and that was not too impressive.   
“And what if he doesn’t? I can’t take a plane or something else and I would never catch up with them while walking”, said Tadashi and ruffled his hair.  
“Why won’t he? Why did you fight anyway?”, asked Annabeth with a deep frown on her face. Shifting uncomfortable, Tadashi told her exactly what had been going on just a few hours ago.  
“Well… maybe Nico does know a way to track down Mrs. O’Leary. I’ll ask him and IM you as soon as we have found a solution. Don’t leave the city!”  
With that, Annabeth ended the call.   
“Great”, cursed the son of Hephaestus. “Not only that I’m lost on a different continent, but my friend ask me to stay where I am like a criminal. Just great!”

Since staying in an area where you’re not allowed to is not much of a wise idea, Tadashi left the yard again and walked aimlessly through the capital city of Sweden. For all those ordinary citizens, Tadashi must look like a young student who’s going out for a walk with his dog, but for those rare people with the sight, he was a miserable demigodly dragon-blooded guy with an automaton puppy that tried to comfort him while chasing away any possible dangerous newspaper that came flying by. He ended up at the place where Hiro had left the country and him behind. Feeling like shit, the son of Hephaestus sat down onto the bench.

Why had he said cruel stuff like that? If he was honest with himself, he did mean it like that in that very moment, yes, but under different circumstances, he’d never said it out loud. At least not like that.   
Yes, he was angry about certain things Hiro did – the fact that he was just so stubborn and went out fighting in robot battles behind his back just out of boredom and that he had called aunt Cass behind his back too. That he had not guarded them last night was just peanuts, really but it was something Hiro seemed to do all the time – sneaking around rules and promises. But that was something Tadashi had done too when in this age and he doubted other teenagers were much different.   
Never would and never had Tadashi thought that his younger brother was in any way responsible for his dead. Heck, it had been his own idea to get Hiro to university after his last battle had gone out of order the way it had. He had introduced the teen to his friends and had supported him with his project for uni from the beginning. He had been so damn proud when Hiro got the scholarship!

Sighing, Tadashi slammed his head back against the back of the bench. He had made a big mistake and he knew that. He shouldn’t have let the anger control him. Would Hiro ever be able to forgive him? The thought that Hiro might not forgive him at all made Tadashi’s heart feel like it was ripped into pieces.  
“I’m such an idiot!”, groaned the older Hamada.  
“Indeed”, agreed a voice, the son of Hephaestus would never have thought to hear at a place like this. His head snapped up just in time to see the son of Hades drop to the ground, blacked out completely.

*********************

 

Have you ever carried an unconscious child of Hades through any city? Tadashi could tell it was no fun at all. He had to avoid as many people as possible because he wasn’t sure what they would see through the mist.   
After a while though, Tadashi reached the park where they had been camping the night before. Because of his urge to talk to Hiro and clear things again, he hadn’t bothered putting the tent back together but had just taken his belongings with him, in case someone might want to steal them.   
He laid Nico down and waited for the halfblood to wake up again. He wondered why the son of Hades was here. Hadn’t he told them that it was too dangerous for him to travel such a distance yet? Why was he here then? And the way he had reacted to Tadashi blaming himself, what did the Italian know?

One hour later and Tadashi wasn’t sure what in the name of the Gods he should do. Nico hadn’t waken up by now and his breathing was so slow, Tadashi felt himself worrying if the son of Hades wasn’t in coma or something.   
Leaning over the other, Tadashi tried to figure out what to do. Should he go and IM the child of Apollo, Will Solace? Or rather Percy? Or…  
“I should tell you that Percy can get quite jealous, so if you dare kiss me, you’re in for some serious trouble”, whispered Nico suddenly, eyes opening slowly.  
“Oh thank God, you’re awake”, gasped Tadashi while pulling back some. “You’ve been driving me insane here!”  
Groaning some, Nico sat up slowly. “I think you’re doing good with driving yourself insane. I’ve got news from Annabeth.”  
Tadashi blushed and his eyes went wide. No, Annabeth couldn’t have told Nico, right? She wouldn’t… but the look on Nico’s face told him, that the son of Hades knew. Knew more then he wanted to.  
“Please, tell me…”

************************

“After you had IM her the other day, Annabeth tried to figure out what was going on and after snooping around in the internet and through Daedalus’ Notebook, she came to me. We tried to talk to your mother but that didn’t really work because she died a long time ago and souls loose their memory with the time as you might know…”

Tadashi stared at the Italian. Nico had talked to their mother? How… right, child of the Underworld. Shuddering, the older Hamada remembered his time down there. If he hadn’t had his memories about Hiro and the urge to protect his little brother… he had seen others loosing their mind and the knowledge about themselves within one day – at least he thought it had been a day but telling how much time had passed was kinda hard when in Hades, you see?

“To cut this short, dragons are devided into two kinds. That has nothing to do with how they look like but is about their genes. There are dominant and submissive dragons and how you might now, dominants feel the urge to have a certain amount of control over the submissive ones. In a pack, the dominant should provide safety and take care of the weaker ones, mostly the pregnant dragons or the cubs”, explained Nico while trying really hard to keep a neutral expression. Tadashi didn’t care. All he could do was stare at the other, the words slowly coming to his mind.   
“Since you told Annabeth a very… detailed version of that dream of yours, we figured that you are the dominant one of the two of you. You are the older one, the one to protect your submissive packmate and younger sibling, but you’re also controlled by the urge to claim him.”  
“C-claim? What are you…”, yelped Tadashi in shock. So far, everything had sounded somehow reasonable but why would he want to claim his own brother?  
“Your mother wasn’t sure since she had just met one other dragon in her life but she told me that for dragons, sibling relationships are basically non-existent. Siblings are part of the pack as is everyone else and as such, they are potential mates. It isn’t unusual for dragon siblings to mate each other since everyone has the urge to have the next generation to inherit as many of his genes as possible. And since siblings tend to share a lot of genes, the combination is just perfect.”  
Tadashi was speechless. So his instincts were telling him that Hiro, as the only submissive (and only other member of their pack) should be his mate? That he should claim his little brother and what? Breed him?

“But, Hiro is…”, stuttered Tadashi, not sure if he really wanted to ask.  
“Your brother? Male?”, finished Nico, one eyebrow raised. “As far as we know, that doesn’t matter. If you would have grown up in a proper dragon pack, it would have been normal for you to want Hiro as your mate. And as a submissive, he could even get pregnant. Well, dragons don’t get pregnant but that’s a different story.” The son of Hades leaned back and watched Tadashi, apparently finished with his biology class.   
Burying his head in his hands, Tadashi groaned. Why was it that every time they seemed to think they knew the rules, something always came around and throw everything they knew into a new mess?  
Sighing, Tadashi tried to calm himself. At least, he understood more of this mess now. And if you thought about it from the biological point of view, it made sense. His dominant side wanted Hiro to be safe and take care of him, wanted to have the only submissive around as it’s mate. Him having wet dreams about Hiro was just his body trying to tell him what to do, since he wasn’t one to listen to his instincts. Perfectly reasonable.  
For a dragon, that is.   
But him and Hiro had been raised as humans. How could Tadashi just throw every moral they had of the table and selfishly decide over his brother’s head? He wouldn’t be any better then what he had accused of Hiro. Tadashi needed find Hiro and after excusing himself for being an absolute asshole, he would tell him, what Nico had told him. Because if his instincts were telling him to claim Hiro, maybe Hiro was feeling something similar too? And was frightened by it too? So when they had talked this through, they could look for a way to satisfy their urges somehow and get back to being normal siblings, right? Maybe there was some kind of dragon magic or maybe they could look for other dragons to mate. They couldn’t be the last ones on the entire planet, right? There had to be others! There was no way, Tadashi was going to mate his brother and take this part of humanity away from Hiro, take away the right to chose his partner just for Tadashi’s sake.   
Because Tadashi knew Hiro would do that. Hiro would give up on his choice and let Tadashi have him if it meant to help his older brother out. And that was nothing, Tadashi wanted Hiro to do. 

“Thank you”, said Tadashi and turned to face Nico again. The Italian nodded.   
“Would you mind telling me now, why you are here in the first place? Because you and Annabeth could have told me everything through Iris Message too…”  
Nico huffed. “Yeah, but you need to get away from here and follow Hiro. And I happen to be able to shadow travel, even though Will will most likely kill me when I get back to Camp.”  
“You’re going to help me find him then?”, asked Tadashi, hope growing inside him.  
The son of Hades nodded. “Consider me your personal taxi for now. But if you don’t come clear with Hiro, you’re in for a lot of trouble. Hiro is my friend, you know that, right?”  
Swallowing heavily, the older Hamada nodded. He would not want to anger the child of the Underworld in any way.  
“Good. Now tell me where you wanted to go next. As soon as I’m up to it, we will follow them.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry this update took so long but I was working on a birthday fanfic for my dear beta Stitch. Now I can't wait for his birthday to come around ! ^^

Chapter 14

*Location: Helsinki, capital of Finland; Europe*

The ‚Daughter of the Balitc’ was not as Tadashi had been expecting. Annabeth had told him that the capital city of Finland was the northernmost capital of any European Union member state and Finland’s major political, educational, financial, cultural and research centre as well as one of the northern Europe’s major cities. It was located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and thanks to that way warmer than the northern areas of the country.   
Tadashi had thought, that he would find many students at some beach or something like that but maybe it was too cold, even for the people who lived here all year. But he wasn’t going to complain since Nico had dropped them off under an old boat and fell asleep immediately. So here they were, under a rotten boat, the son of Hades exhausted and out like a candle again and Tadashi banned to wait. And waiting meant thinking. 

At first, he tried to lift the boat some to get out and get some fresh air and maybe a bit of fresh food but he wasn’t strong enough to lift the thing above them. Through some empty spaces in the wood, far above his head, a bit of daylight enlightened the room under the boat. Another thing the dragon-blooded demigod was thankful for because being stuck like this kind of reminded him of being buried alive – something he could have lived without, really. The son of Hades on the other hand, was snoring like this was the most comfortable place. 

Sighing deeply, Tadashi gave up on lifting the boat. There was nothing he could do right now even though everything inside him ached to get out and look after Hiro. He knew that the other was most likely not around anymore – Nico needed longer to recharge after shadow travelling and Tadashi had been waiting for a day before the Italian had showed up. Hiro was probably already in Moscow, the next stop on their way. Hopefully Sebastian would take care of him until Tadashi got to them again…

***********************

‘Strong arms were holding him, hot skin burning his own and passionate lips were kissing the living soul out of him, but he couldn’t care if he could breathe or not. All he knew was, that he needed more!  
Baring his neck, Hiro wrapped his arms around the strong neck belonging to that body that brought him so much pleasure in so many ways. A rough hand went down to play with his nipple, causing Hiro to let out a sound like a mewl, something he would have been embarrassed about any time else but now he was pretty confident about himself. Because he had gotten the other all hot and bothered just with him being him and the other liked it very much – if the hard thing inside him was anything to go by.   
Those sinful lips let go of his own and when he took a deep breath, Hiro looked up from those lips and neck covered with hickeys to… eyes wide in shock, Hiro let go of the other, unwrapped his legs from that lean waist and tried to push this… person off of him. Where the face should have been was nothing, just skin. A mouth of course but no real nose, no eyes and no features. A mob of black hair surrounded that face, hair that looked familiar with how messed up it looked. But the haircut was currently Hiro’s latest priority. He needed to get away from here! ’

With a loud gasp, Hiro’s eyes snapped open…

*Location: Moscow, capital of Russia; Eastern Europe/Asia*  
Panting, Hiro got up and out of the bed, fighting with the sheets that were wrapped around his legs and rushed into the bathroom that was connected to their hotel room. Well, his and Mrs. O’Leary’s room, Sebastian had gotten himself a second one.   
Hiro hastily splashed his face with cold water as if the clear liquid could wash away these pictures from his inner eye. When he looked into the mirror in front of him, a horrible face stared back – dark shadows under brown eyes, wet and messy hair standing up into every possible direction, a deep flush on his cheeks and his lip bruised (he must have bitten himself or something).  
It wasn’t the first time that Hiro woke up to those kind of dreams. He knew that it wasn’t abnormal to have wet dreams, especially not when one was around his age. He had even come to terms with being gay. But ever since he had started this quest with Tadashi, his partner had lost his face and the dream would turn into a nightmare as soon as Hiro discovered this part of the other. It was a wonder that Tadashi had not noticed how often the younger Hamada had been waken up by this with them sharing a room and even a bed most of the times. 

Tadashi…

Another sigh escaped Hiro’s lips and he sat down on the ground, head leaning against the cooling tiles on the wall. When Sebastian and him had gotten to Helsinki, Hiro’s anger had been gone after a few hours and he had suggested to wait for his brother. He was sure that Tadashi would have found a way. He would have send Mrs. O’Leary back to get him otherwise. But the child of Aphrodite had been furious about the mere suggestion and had told Hiro how important it was that Hiro showed Tadashi that he could do this on his own for once. That he wasn’t an idiotic selfish brat as which the older one had him insulted as.   
So Hiro had shaken off his thoughts about talking to Tadashi and travelled to Moscow instead – the ninth most expensive cities in the world. Thanks to Sebastian’s connections though, they managed to get a proper stay at a nice hotel and even two separate rooms and dinner and breakfast for free. If one looked at it from this point of view, having a hotel manager with you was pretty handy. 

But if he was honest with himself, Hiro would have loved to sleep in his sleeping bag under a bridge if it meant Tadashi would be with him again. He had lost his brother back then and the thought of loosing him again because of his own stupidness was more than Hiro could stand. His heard ached at the mere idea of Tadashi fighting some monster all alone and loosing against it or freezing to death or get lost and die in any kind of way. And all of this only because he had been stupid and made a mistake.  
With other words, Hiro was worried beyond Olympus. If it hadn’t been for Sebastian’s reasonable words, Hiro would at least have called his brother and told him how sorry he was and how much he missed him. How much he missed to talk to him, to hug him, to make him smile. How much he liked to tease him by messing with his stuff at home or sharing embarrassing childhood stories with their friends or just by simple stuff such as taking away his cap and ruffle his hair…  
His hair!  
Pressing his hand onto his mouth to keep himself from screaming, Tadashi stared at the toilet seat next to him in pure panic.   
‘Nonononono!’, shouted a voice inside his head, no, this was wrong, this couldn’t be true! He hadn’t even told Tadashi that he was gay! There was no way he could develop this kind of pervertness before talking about him being homosexual with his brother!   
Shutting his eyes tight, Hiro tried very hard to remember the dreams he has had before and how the hair of the faceless person had looked like.  
“Nononono”, whispered Hiro and tears gathered in his eyes. “Why?”

Needless to say that Hiro did not sleep for the rest of the night. Sebastian on the other hand must have slept like a baby because when they met up for breakfast, the other was very chipper and talkative.   
“… ro? Are you even listening?”  
Looking up from his untouched breakfast, Hiro threw an excusing look at the green haired man in front to him. “Hm? Sorry, what did you say?”  
Sebastian’s face softened and he put down his cup of coffee, reaching out to take Hiro’s hand into his. “Listen, Hiro. I get that you miss your brother, but I don’t have to tell you how important it is for you to not give in this time, right?”  
“… yeah”, answered Hiro, averting the other’s eyes.   
“Good boy. Now back to what I was thinking about the whole night”, said Sebastian, the happy mood back on his face. “I thought, that we could make this whole thing easier and way faster, if we shorten the route some.”  
Squinting his eyes, Hiro looked at the older man in suspicion. “What do you mean by shortening the route? It’s already as short as possible.”  
“No, it’s not. The shortest way would have been to travel from Canada to Russia instead of hiking through Europe by the way but that aside, I thought that we could shadow travel from here, Moscow, to your destination, the Putorana Plateau, in one go.”  
Hiro’s eyes went wide and he shook his head. “If we do that, it would be very risky for Mrs. O’Leary and…”  
“Maybe a bit risky, yes, but absolutely possible. I say, we’ll let her rest for another day and then it should be fine. Agreed?”  
The last part sounded somehow weird to Hiro, not really like a question but he ignored that. It sounded good to shorten things. If they would finish this sooner, he could go back to Tadashi and they could finally talk about this mess. That was when he found himself nodding his head.   
“Okay, fine.One more day in Moscow and tomorrow, we’ll shadow travel for the last time.”  
“Good boy”, repeated Sebastian and petted his hair.

The entire day, Hiro was dragged shopping and sight seeing by a very eager Sebastian Sewell even though he tried to tell the other that he was so not in the mood. Since Sebastian didn’t listen, Hiro decided to do the same. While the other was talking about buildings and weird Russian people Hiro had only heard off while watching Anastasia, the young Hamada kept thinking about what was going on in his mind.   
Why was he suddenly attracted to his older brother? Or had he been attracted to Tadashi before but just now started to realise it with his mind sending him those kind of dreams? What if his partner would wear Tadashi’s face next time?   
More important, what would Tadashi say about all of this? Hiro was sure that his brother would be fine with him being gay. Maybe Hiro should keep this other part as a secret? Maybe it would go away after some time… something inside Hiro was shaking it’s head wildly at that. Somehow, Hiro knew that this was more than just some kind of pervert kink he had. 

In the evening, Hiro was having a major headache from all the thinking he had done – and he still had no clue. Right now, the son of Hephaestus was short from killing a certain son of Aphrodite though so no thinking for a couple of minutes.   
“I said, I want to go to sleep”, told Hiro for what felt like the thousandth time that evening. Sebastian, who had changed into a dark green suit, kept tugging at Hiro’s bow tie and straightened the suit he had forced Hiro into. “And I said, I really want you to meet that friend who made this possible.” With ‘this’, Sebastian meant their stay at this hotel and probably he was right and Hiro should show some kind of gratitude but… he felt really sick by now.   
“But…”  
The young man knelt down in front of Hiro, hands on his shoulders. “Listen, Hiro. If you stay there for, like half an hour and then excuse yourself, I won’t say anything. I just want to introduce you, you saying thank you and eat something. How does that sound, hm?”  
“Fine…”, sighed Hiro, getting the feeling that arguing would not get him anywhere in this. Half an hour was going to be the last thing for today though. If Sebastian wouldn’t let him go after that, Hiro would burn away his expensive suit and every reachable body hair.

“And this is Katharina, my beloved sister”, introduced Victor, a tall guy with short blond hair. Next to him stood his sister, equally tall and blonde but with elegant waves in her hair and her blue eyes were full of love as she looked at her brother.   
Victor Yuri was the friend Sebastian had wanted to introduce Hiro to – and the owner of this hotel. After exchanging a few words – and Hiro saying thank you for their cheap stay – they sat down to eat and talk. Hiro was relieved that there was normal food on his plate because if there would have been any of those things Sebastian had forced him to try out through the day, he was sure he wouldn’t have been able to eat a single thing. Not that he was able to eat much anyway with that knot inside his stomach but that was a different reason.   
Through the dinner, Hiro discovered something, something that made him forget to get up and leave after thirty minutes. The way those two Russian siblings behaved around each other… at first, Hiro thought it was just the Russian way around but the longer he watched those seemingly accidental brushes of hands and those longing looks…

The Yuris excused themselves after two ours and Sebastian and Hiro went back to their room. On their way, Hiro took all his braveness together and asked the child of Aphrodite.  
“Uhm, Sebastian? Are Victor and Katharina lovers?”  
After looking around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, Sebastian chuckled. “So you noticed, huh? Yes, they are lovers.”  
Hiro’s jaw dropped. “But they are siblings!”  
“So what? Siblings can fall for each other too. It’s rare and society doesn’t like it but it happens.”  
Before they could continue their little conversation, a hotel servant came by and interrupted them with his question if they needed help. But that was fine. Hiro had gotten his answer – and more stuff to think off. 

**************************

*Location: Helsinki, capital of Finland; Europe*

After Nico had waken up, the two demigods had managed to get out from under the boat and got themselves something to eat. Because Nico wanted Happy Meals, they went to McDonnald’s. Which was fine because Tadashi didn’t care about it as long as he got something to eat. The worry about Hiro was eating him up the longer he didn’t hear anything from the younger Hamada. What if something had happened?  
When Nico was munching on his first Happy Meal, Tadashi excused himself and went to the restaurant’s toilet. After making sure that he was alone – which was a very lucky moment, the older sibling turned on the water, pulled out a lamp and created a rainbow. After that, he threw in a drachma and prayed:  
“Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering and grant me a call to my brother  
Hiro, probably in Moscow, Russia.”  
This time, an image appeared in the small rainbow – a hotel room with expensive looking paintings on the wall. But in front of that wasn’t his little brother but someone different.  
“Where’s Hiro?”, asked Tadashi, not caring about greeting first. Sebastian turned around, surprised.  
“Oh. And I thought, Hiro had shut off this little invention of his. Well, I’m sorry but Hiro doesn’t want to talk to you at the moment”, said the son of Aphrodite.  
“I’ll ask you again, where is my brother”, repeated Tadashi, slowly growing impatient.   
Sebastian shook his head. “He’s in his room, probably asleep by now. We have a long journey before us tomorrow, you know?”  
With that, Sebastian reached out and ended the IM by waving through the image.   
On the one hand, that was good because in that very moment, a stranger walked in on Tadashi and stared for a moment at the young man who was creating a rainbow in the middle of a dirty rest room in Helsinki before minding his own business.   
On the other hand, Tadashi would have loved to call again and tell this person he had considered as something that could turn into a friend that he should go and get his brother. Was it possible that Hiro was still mad at him? Maybe. But that he wouldn’t want to talk to Tadashi, not at all? That did not sound like Hiro. Hiro would defend himself, Hiro was strong and would stand his ground not hide from a conversation like this. Why had he given his IRIS-PHONE to that green haired man? And what was it with them going on a long journey tomorrow? Okay, the trip from Moscow to Workuta was quite long but still…  
With wide eyes, Tadashi put away his lamp and ran out of the rest room.  
“Nico! We need to get going!”

*********************  
*Location: Moscow, capital of Russia; Eastern Europe/Asia*

It was official, Hiro was an idiot. He had been worrying his ass of the whole day just because of something, Sebastian had said. He didn’t care about what the green haired one had said, he needed to talk to Tadashi right now. If he would have been able to find his IRIS-PHONE that is.   
A knock on the door interrupted Hiro’s search. Getting up from the ground where he had spilled the entire things from his bag, Hiro sighed frustrated and went to open the door. In front of it stood a very guilty looking Sebastian, already in his pyjamas. From behind his back, the young man pulled out a destroyed mess of mechanic pieces.   
“I’m very sorry, I have no idea why it was in my bag! I just threw my back of the cupboard and it shattered into pieces.”  
With that and a guilty look on his face, Sebastian handed Hiro the broken mess that had been his IRIS-PHONE.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

*Location: Norilsk; Russia*

Norilsk was cold. Which was something one could have expected, with Norilsk being the world’s nothermost city with more then 100.000 inhabitants and the second largest city inside the Arctic Circle, one of three big cities in the continuous permafrost zone. Temperatures were pretty low, even in the summer time – in July, the average high of temperature reached just 18.2°C (64.8°F).  
All in all you could say that Hiro was very thankful for the warm coat Sebastian had pushed him to buy. The coat had a deep blue colour and was surprisingly fluffy from the inside. It also had many hidden pockets. It had been quite expensive but right now, Hiro was pretty chill about that fact because this coat made him blend in with the inhabitants more then his own clothes would have. And since Norilsk was closed to all non-Russians in November 2001 (except for Belarusians), blending in was a very good choice. Granted, with around hundred thousands of people, two not too familiar faces were not that unusual, but Hiro would gladly skip a tour through the local police stations if you’d have asked him. 

It was about half a day ago that Mrs. O’Leary had stepped out of the shadows in a dark alley and dropped to the ground there. At first, everything had seemed normal, even though Hiro had been skeptical about the huge distance they had travelled but the hellhound lady seemed fine. And just when Sebastian had smiled smugly and opened his mouth to say something, probably ‘Told you so’ or so, the shape of the underworldly creature had started to fade more and more. Hiro had panicked and babbled nonsense the longer he didn’t have an idea what was going on and what to do.  
In the end, they had pushed her back into the shadows and forced some Ambrosia down her throat which stopped the fading. But the shock sat deep. It had taken the son of Aphrodite over an hour to get Hiro to leave her side for the sake of getting some food and a map of the surroundings – because the one they had been planning on using was inside Tadashi’s bag. 

Tadashi…

Sighing in frustration, Hiro looked up into the sky and sighed again. The need to talk to the older Hamada seemed to grow with every step he took, with every minute that passed. He needed talk at least about something but that was impossible. The IRIS-PHONE was broken and there was no time to fix it. And the normal Iris messages were to risky in this Russian town and since Hiro’s slight panic attack, Sebastian did not let him out of eyesight either. 

“Hiro! I got it!”, cheered the green haired male and waved at him. That much for going unnoticed. But at least the older one was wearing a hat to cover most of his unusual hair colour. Curious, Hiro stepped closer.   
“If we take this road until there and walk up there, we should reach the Plutorana Plateau. And then…” Sebastian did not finish the sentence but Hiro knew what the other wanted to say anyway. Then, it was up to him and his memory to find the place on the map, Hephaestus had given to them. Well, to Tadashi, where the piece of paper was with right now.  
Nodding, Hiro sighed again.   
Sebastian frowned. “If you want, we can go back and look after her. But then we should look for a place to sleep. It’s already getting dark.”  
“Okay”, agreed Hiro, relieved that the other didn’t ask any further but assumed that Hiro was so out of line because of their hellhound-taxi.

*******************

*Location: Unknown but cold*

They crashed into the wall in front of them and never had Tadashi been that thankful to be used as a human punching bag. Because if it had been Nico’s face hitting the wall, they could have forgotten about the rest of the trip to Norilsk. Not that the son of Hades looked like he could take on the rest of the way, even if he had not hit the wall but Tadashi face first.   
The Italian was shaking and his eyes were unfocussed and for a moment or two, Tadashi thought about stopping here and letting him rest. But then he remembered, what Nico had told him:

\- “Even if we don’t make it in one shadow travel and I might look more dead then alive, you need to give me this and get me going! Otherwise, we won’t make it in time! Don’t worry about me. I managed the trip from Camp to Stockholm. Helsinki to Norilsk is a comparable way and we won’t have to worry about accidentally hopping out of the shadows in the middle of the atlantic ocean.” -

With shaking hands did Tadashi open the bottle, Nico had given to him. It was filled with a weird looking mixture of Ambrosia and pomegranate seeds.   
“Sorry Nico”, whispered Tadashi. Then, he reached out and pushed the bottle’s opening against the other’s pale lips and hold his nose close so that Nico would swallow. Because Nico had told him that he would most likely refuse any kind of food or drink.   
The Italian struggled in his arms, arms pushing against Tadashi’s grip without any strength, which made Tadashi reconsider this for a second, but then, Nico finally drank. 

***********************

*Location: Norilsk; Russia*

“It’s a new daaayyyy!”  
Groaning, Hiro tried to block out the sound of Sebastian singing under the shower. It was way to early and the son of Hephaestus had not gotten much sleep within the night either. But they needed to get out of town early when the city was still asleep and nobody would ask questions. 

“Wakey, wakey, Hiro”, called the son of Aphrodite when he stepped out of the bathroom. “We got answers to find!”  
Yawning wildly, Hiro gave up on hiding under the pillow and threw it after Sebastian instead.   
“Why are you in such a good mood?”, asked the younger Hamada as he stepped out of the bed and walked into the direction of the bathroom. Fog forced it’s way past the door and into the room and Hiro felt his hair getting wet. And damn, was this hot inside there!   
“Because today is the day! The day when you will prove yourself to Tadashi!”, answered the green haired male and got dressed inside the big cupboard.   
“Yay…”, mumbled Hiro and hastily closed the door behind himself. He wasn’t keen on proving anything to his older brother anymore. He wasn’t even keen on getting to that plateau either. All he wanted was to talk to Tadashi and get clear with everything. And to have one of those amazing hugs Tadashi could give. Those hugs made everything better and easier. As if his brother would take a bit of the weight on your shoulder off of you and share his strength with you.   
Shaking his head, Hiro shrugged out of his pyjamas and turned on the water. Damn, was that hot! But very relaxing…

******************

“Shitshitshitdamnshit”, mumbled Tadashi while he ran through the unknown city. After the drink, Nico had gathered enough energy to shadow travel again and they had continued their way to Norilsk. But Tadashi had not been convinced about the sudden regain of strength and had asked for Nico to take a break, the just witnessed state of the child of Hades leaving a shocking impression in the older Hamada. But the stubborn Italian had just shaken his head, grabbed Tadashi and went on. Until they had dropped out of the shadows again, right in front of a very confused woman who had been taking out the garbage. Now Tadashi carried the knocked out child of the underworld through the streets while looking for a place to stay. It was pretty cold outside but he doubted that the hotel owners would accept dollar or much less drachma. If he just could remember the place Annabeth had told him to go to…  
Wait! Wasn’t it….?  
With renewed strength did Tadashi keep on walking. 

*********************

The owner of their hotel had been a pain in the ass. At first, the old man would not accept their payment and then, he started to talk about calling the police.  
Hiro didn’t get it. Even though it was not allowed for tourists to come here (non-Russian tourists that is), why would someone reject a payment of easy costumers and bring himself into the trouble of calling the police and tell them that he had let them stay over night?  
It had taken Sebastian over two hours to talk these ideas out of the old man and his daughter, who had supported him halfway through. Apparently, her fiance was a police officer in town. 

When they finally left, it was already lunch time and Hiro’s stomach was telling him that he didn’t support the idea of skipping breakfast anymore. Just when they made their way to one of those fast food restaurants to get something quick, a figure in the mass of people caught Hiro’s attention. With a strangled gasp did the son of Hephaestus stop moving, just to get hit by a woman who didn’t watch out and stepped into him.   
“Watch out!”, yelled the middle-aged woman, holding onto him to not fall into the dirty snow on the ground.  
“I’m sorry!”, apologised Hiro, helping her up and then looking back to that person he thought he had spotted. But it was too late, the other was gone.  
“Everything alright?”, asked Sebastian, a frown attached to his face. The woman had disappeared into the crowd already.   
“Yeah, I just…”, started Hiro but changed his mind halfway through. “It’s nothing. I’m just so hungry I see funny things is all.”  
Raising an eyebrow, Sebastian hold up a plastic bag who emitted a very pleasant smell of food. While they walked over, Hiro cursed himself for being such a mess and for skipping a meal. This was not the time to fantasise about seeing his best friend. And why would Nico even let himself being carried to a city in the arctic circle anyway?

**************************

The Russian demigod had not been too fond of the idea of letting a son of Hades alone in his hotel but thankfully, a little tip did the job.   
After Tadashi had given Nico the rest of the other’s strange drink and tugged him in, he unwrapped his father’s map on the table. While wandering through the city, the older Hamada had gotten to know that this was indeed Norilsk. And if he had done his math correctly, Hiro and Sebastian should have reached the city around yesterday. But he wasn’t sure and there was nobody he could ask. Because of that, the most logical thing to do, was going to the Putorana Plateau on his own and wait if Hiro would show up. In the meantime, Nico could rest some and whatnot. After scribbling a fast note onto a piece of paper, Tadashi grabbed his coat and left the room, not wanting to waist any time. It could also be the case that Hiro was already there after all.

************************

Everything hurt.   
Breathing hurt, his feet hurt, his back hurt and his headache was growing worse with each step he took.  
And Sebastian looked as if the son of Aphrodite had just hatched from an egg, hairstyle fresh and clothes straight. And this happy mood! It was getting onto Hiro’s nerves already.

“Look Hiro! Isn’t that the rock we’ve been looking for?”, called Sebastian and Hiro raised his head. On the map of Hephaestus had been the Putorana Plateau, as well as a few landmarks. This rock, shaped like a snake if you looked close, was the last one.   
The prospect of the near end of this hell gave Hiro new energy and he caught up with the green haired one.  
“That means, this place or whatever it is has to be somewhere around here, right?”, asked Sebastian, a bright smile on his face.

The smile did slip off his face, the longer they searched for any kind of sign that anybody had been here in the past. All they found was dirt, rocks, snow and some other rocks. With a sign did he lean against a particular big rock behind him, letting himself slide to the ground.   
“This is not the time to rest”, chided Sebastian, an impatient tone in his voice.   
“I don’t know about you, but I’m beat”, said Hiro, anger growing inside him. All Sebastian did was pushing him around and tell him what to do. He really didn’t like that and he didn’t want to do this anymore either.  
“Look, Se…”   
Hiro had put his hands behind his back to push himself back up. That was when a clicking sound could be heard and a bright light started to shine behind him. Interrupted, the dragon-blodded child of Hephaestus turned around, just to find his hand glued to a weird looking small rune on the rocky surface under his palm. Before he could panic though, the light disappeared and with it, the rock. Or at least the wall behind Hiro. In it’s place, a human shaped opening appeared, leading into the rock and unknown darkness.   
“Great job, Hiro!”, cheered Sebastian while he pushed past Hiro. “You did it!”  
The rush of happiness caused by his success washed away the pain of his body and the thoughts in his mind and let Hiro follow Sebastian into the cave.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I hope it's worth it XD
> 
> -life sucks at times-

Chapter 16

*Location: Putorana Plateau; Norilsk; Russia*

They walked through the darkness – no it was more something like stumbling since they could not see a thing – for what felt like a century. Hiro was short from complaining again, his body was sore from the trip up here and he was exhausted beyond everything he knew. He already opened his mouth to say something, when a glimmering light appeared in the distance. Shutting his mouth again, both him and Sebastian picked up the pace and hurried over to the light. 

The path ended into a cave. If that was the right word to describe a place like this one. It looked as if an entire mountain could fit into this place and Hiro wondered if he could fly circles in his dragon form in here.   
The light that had been leading them in the end was coming from a row of torches that hung along the walls, making the cave look like a giant arena. In the middle of it was a small mountain of big rocks, it’s purpose unknown. Maybe it had been something like an altar in the past? Aside from the rocks, the ground was surprisingly clean, no dead animal corpses from where poor creatures sneaked in here and died because they were lost. Also no other dead bodies, for which Hiro was very thankful. Part of him had been suspicious about all the stories one heard of dragons as a little kid – mighty creatures that stole princesses and fought against knights and killed humans for their next meal. Not that Hiro had ever felt the desire to eat anyone, but you can’t be sure, right? It might be in your genes after all…

The most breathtaking thing inside here though were the paintings. Colourful pictures of dragons and hybrid forms decorated the walls, torches set up between them. There were different scenes of, for example, a pack of dragons sleeping curled around each other, looking peacefully. None of them was guarding them, it seemed no possible danger had been feared by the pack.   
Another one showed a dragon hatching from an egg while his parents watched it with lovingly eyes. Tiny wings spread behind the hybrid child, the kid looked as if it was at least two years old. How much time did a dragon spend inside an egg?  
And another picture showed two dragons that fought against each other, claws and teeth piercing skin and wings, anger written all over their faces while their packs watched with serious expressions on their faces. 

Hiro felt as if his body was bursting from everything he felt. There was sadness about the things he would never get to see, about the death of his fellow dragons. Then there was proudness, proudness about him finally learning more about his heritage, proudness of being one of them even though the people on those pictures had lived a long time ago and were probably dust already. Anxiety stand right behind the proudness, clawing itself into his heart and whispering questions – what are you going to do now? Those people can’t teach you anything. You came here for nothing!   
Happiness punched the anxieties in the face, happiness about finally being here and the chance of learning more. Because, there was nothing he knew for sure, could only get better from here on, right?  
And the last one was melancholy. Melancholy about the heritage of this race, and melancholy about Tadashi.   
He had wanted to see this with his brother. He wanted Tadashi to stand right next to him right now, feeling the same and being in awe just like he was. But his brother was not here, because…

Because he had listened to Sebastian. Ever since he had gotten picked up in that park on that bench, all he had done was listening to the child of Aphrodite even though he had been thinking about going back to Tadashi already. But then the other had come around and told him to do this on his own. Just to come with him.   
Turning around, Hiro looked over to the green haired man… who was digging around between the rocks? 

*********************

If aunt Cass would have heard him right now, Tadashi was sure she would have fainted. But the way through the Plateau was really a pain in the ass- no a hell of a hiking bitch! He had no idea how if he would have done this without a break if Hiro hadn’t been somewhere up there. If he was up there. He couldn’t be sure but he needed to check! What he would do if Hiro was not there, Tadashi did not know. Probably search through the entire area in case Hiro had gotten lost and was now freezing to death. And freezing he would because Tadashi doubted that his little brother would get the idea of grilling the son of Aphrodite. That bastard would have a lot of explanation to do when he would get that guy, that much was sure. 

Out of breath and with legs made out of jelly, Tadashi reached the last stop on the map, a rock looking like a snake. Just that there was a huge part missing now. Stepping closer, Tadashi could see the footsteps in the dirty snow on the ground. Two different pairs of shoes had been here and they had gone in there. And he would bet his base cap that those shoes belonged to his little brother and Sebastian.   
Cursing again, Tadashi looked around one last time before pocketing the map and stepping into the darkness. The ground beneath his feet felt rocky and the walls where pretty close to his arms. Even his cap was scrapping against the ceiling above from time to time. Inside here it was warmer then outside and it seemed to get warmer with every step he took. If he would have been able to see anything, Tadashi would have been running at this point. He could almost feel Hiro, feel how close the other was. But things being as they were, the older Hamada settled for stumbling forward as fast as he could. 

***********************

A wet feeling and a soft, low whining made it’s way through the darkness of his mind. He tended to ignore it for a while but when it got more desperate, he felt himself give in and followed that sound, followed it out of the darkness and back to consciousness. 

With a heavy groan did Nico open his eyes, only to find himself face to face with a hellhound. Anyone else would have screamed and grabbed the next weapon but Nico just grinned a bit and reached out to pet his boyfriend’s pet.   
“Missed you too, Mrs. O’Leary. Have you been a good girl?”  
The hellhound lady responded by wagging her tail as fast as she could.   
“Of course you have. I knew it. So, where’s Tadashi?”  
The wagging slowed down and the underworldly creature whined again. Frowning, Nico sat up. He noticed the hotel room he was in – nothing special but he couldn’t care less. The son of Hephaestus was nowhere to be seen. Getting out of the bed, Nico looked around. Tadashi’s coat was gone and there was no note… wait!

The frown on Nico’s face deepened while he read the hastily scribbled note.   
“These siblings will be the death of me…”, muttered Nico before digging through his own bag, looking for his coat.   
“Let’s get going, Mrs. O’Leary. We have some dragons to catch!”

*********************

Frowning, Hiro stepped closer. “What are you doing there?”  
But Sebastian ignored him, a fierce expression on his face and sweat running down his forehead. Hiro reached out to grab his shoulder when the other let out a triumphant shout and took something out from between the rocks.   
“Finally! After all those years!”  
Hiro hastily stumbled backwards, watching the green haired one with growing confusion. The thing Sebastian had found turned out to be a wooden box that looked as if one had taken it right out of the dark middle ages.   
“What’s that?”, asked Hiro and the sound of his voice seemed to reach the other this time because his eyes shoot up and focused on Hiro. The smile that crept over his face sent shudders down Hiro’s spine. This was not the Sebastian he had gotten to know!

********************

The light got brighter and brighter and then, Tadashi stood at the entry to a big cave. Torches enlightened the spacious area but couldn’t quite reach the ceiling of it. In the middle were a few rocks and on the walls he saw paintings of dragons. They were probably important and all but all Tadashi could find himself to focus on was the image of Hiro, who stood in front of those rocks, staring at Sebastian.   
Said son of Aphrodite looked like he had gone crazy. His eyes were wide open and dark, his hair ruffled and dirty. So where his clothes. In his hands Tadashi noticed a box made out of wood, Sebastian’s hands holding onto it tightly. The greatest giveaway though was the maniac like laughter that came out of the green haired man’s mouth.   
Gritting his teeth, Tadashi pressed himself against the walls of the tunnel, trying to melt with the darkness. Everything inside him screamed for him to go and protect Hiro, his body had long ago changed into his humanoid form, fangs poking the inside of his bottom lip and his horns were scratching against the ceiling even more then his cap had done but he couldn’t care less.   
If this guy would in any way endanger Hiro, it would be best if he didn’t know Tadashi was here – moment of surprise and all that, you know?

**********************

Sebastian was a maniac.   
He did sound like one at least. Hiro had a bad feeling about this and that feeling did only grow, when the other stopped laughing and stepped closer to him. He couldn’t help but turn into his humanoid dragon form at that, teeth and claws ready to protect himself.  
“What’s going on?”, hissed Hiro, demanding an answer.  
Sebastian reached out, trying to touch his cheek but Hiro backed off. Sighing, the other let his hand sink again.  
“You look so much like your mother, I wouldn’t have thought…”, whispered Sebastian, voice too low for a human to catch.   
Hiro stiffened. “Y-you knew my mother?”  
The young man huffed. “Of course I did. I wanted her as my mate after all.”

“W-what?”   
Hiro’s mind was a mess. The things Sebastian told him didn’t make sense at all. How could the son of Aphrodite know about his mother? Why would he want to mate with her? He wasn’t a dragon? And how did he know about this place? He must have been here before, must have known about the box. And what was inside of it?

Sebastian chuckled. “Oh, you don’t understand! Wait, I’ll fix that for you.”  
With that said, Sebastian put the old box aside and took his coat off. Then, he opened his arms in a welcoming gesture and threw his head back.   
When he lifted it again, his skin was covered with green and brown scales, dark horns poking out between his green hair and ruby red eyes stared at Hiro. Matching red wings spread open behind his back and a slender tail cut through the air behind Sebastian’s back.

“You’re a dragon…”, whispered Hiro, not fully believing his eyes. How was that possible?   
“Yes I am. I am the last full blooded dragon in this world. Your mother had been the last submissive one around here too. The perfect mate for me. But she had to chose this ugly god instead of me!”  
The last words did Sebastian spat out, anger written all over his face. But when he focused on Hiro again, a wicked smile spread over it.   
“Well, if I couldn’t have her, I’ll take you instead.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm incredibly sorry that this took me this long! I hope you like the final chapter though!   
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos so far, they make my day!

Chapter 17

*Location: the cave - Putorana Plateau; Norilsk; Russia*

Hiro thought that he should be confused as fuck but if he was honest with himself, he barely had the time for even thinking. Within seconds, Sebastian reached out for him, grabbing his arm in a very tight grip, claws digging into his skin, drawing blood even through his scales.   
“I have to thank you, Hiro. Getting rid of your brother for me just because of this…”  
With a satisfied look on his face did the older dragon hold up a small bottle with a clear liquid in it.   
“The power of charm speak in one little bottle…”, drawled the green haired one before pocketing the item again. “Where was I? Oh, I know. You are mine now!”

A deep growl interrupted them, a growl full of anger and loud enough for the ground to shake slightly. Both Hiro’s and Sebastian’s heads snapped up and around to face the source of the intimidating noise.  
There, at the entrance of this cave stood…  
“Tadashi!”, cried Hiro, relief and panic racing through him. “No! Don’t …”  
But there was nothing he could do. The second, those yellow, green tinted eyes settled on the blood on his arm, Tadashi, fully shifted into a dragon, rushed over to them, ready to attack. 

Letting go of his arm, Sebastian shifted too, getting ready to face his competitor. The next thing that Hiro saw, was how two mighty dragons crashed against each other, claws, teeth and horns ready to attack, hurt and kill. 

***********************

“A cave! Of fucking course!”  
Panting, Nico leaned against the rock next to the dark opening, panting heavily. Even with a hellhound to carry him, the way up here had been too much. They were both pretty exhausted after all the shadow travelling during this journey after all.   
Glancing into the darkness, Nico shuddered. The darkness inside there had seen many evil things and even more death. Betrayal, hurt, secrets and much more were waiting for him to listen to. But he didn’t care. All of that had happened too long ago. The present was important, his friends were important!   
Without a second thought, the son of Hades slipped into the darkness, Mrs. O’Leary not too far behind. 

*********************

“Stop it!”, screamed Hiro for what felt like the thousandth time. His throat felt like it was on fire – no pun intended – from all the shouting.   
The two dragons in front of him didn’t care though. They were too busy trying to tear off each others heads. Both of them were covered with each others blood and a lot of wounds. Nothing too bad for what Hiro could see but still.   
The air was full of tension, the ground and the walls shaking from the power behind their attacks and the torches flickered even more as if everything inside here was waiting for the final hit.   
It made Hiro sick. He didn’t want to be the reason for anyone’s death, even if it was the death of a traitor like Sebastian. If that even was his real name! And there was no way he could loose Tadashi again. No way in hell!

Without noticing did he step closer but stopped himself again. If he would get involved in this, there would be even more fighting and what if he hurt his brother by accident?   
His wings and tail twitched and his claws and teeth extended even more, wishing for getting closer, for… yeah what? Protect his brother? Or the one his perverted mind desired? 

‘This is not the time to think about that!’, Hiro interrupted himself. He needed them to stop. Now!  
The two competitors were separated at the moment, both of them catching their breath while eying each other, circling each other.   
Opening his mouth, a sudden touch on his shoulder had him yelping in shock.   
“What… in the … name of … Hades?”, panted Nico, eyes wide and focused on Tadashi and Sebastian, who were now attacking the other again.   
“N-nico? What are you doing here?”, gasped Hiro, staring at his friend. From behind, he could feel the giant head of Mrs. O’Leary pushing against his hand, hearing the hellhound lady whine.   
The son of Hades glared at him. “I helped Tadashi following you and get clear about your fight. But that’s not important now. Who is that?”  
“That’s Sebastian. The one who pretended to be a child of Aphrodite and apparently used some potion to sweet-talk me into leaving Tadashi behind. Turned out he wants me as his mate because he didn’t get our mother back then. And now they are fighting and don’t stop!”, rambled Hiro, gesturing heavily.  
There was a big question mark inside Nico’s eyes but he didn’t ask any further. “We’ll talk later.”  
With that said, the older demigod pulled out his black sword and walked over to the two fighters.  
“Hey idiots!”

**************************

Who would have thought that calling angry dragons ‘idiots’ was not really a good idea?  
The second the word left Nico’s mouth, he for sure knew but then it was too late. Two big heads turned and snake like eyes, one pair ruby red, the other yellow with a tint of green settled on him. While Tadashi seemed to be just surprised by him being here, the other dragon was furious. Without hesitation did he throw himself at Nico and if it wouldn’t have been for Mrs. O’Leary, the son of Hades would have ended up as dragon food.   
Hiro screamed something behind him but Nico was too busy aiming his stygian iron sword at the green-red dragon, seeking strength out of the long gone death hidden in the shadows. Said shadows wrapped themselves around his attacker, trying to hold him back, but Nico wasn’t strong enough.   
The second, the shadow ties snapped, the son of Hades collapsed on the cave ground, his hellhound friend, even though hurt herself jumping in front of him, ready to protect. But they had forgotten about Tadashi. 

The older Hamada didn’t watch how Nico got attacked. He threw himself at Sebastian too, digging his teeth into the spot right under the other’s chin, the point he had been aiming for by instinct. Warm blood flooded his mouth soon after that. Disgust pierced through his entire being and he ripped his head away from the other’s throat though he forgot that his teeth still stuck inside the warm flesh of his enemy. Meant, he took a big part of the other’s throat with him.

*****************************

With wide eyes did Hiro watch how his brother ripped Sebastian’s throat into pieces. He was halfway through the cave himself, had been hurrying over to help Nico, when suddenly, a wet sound could be heard and a wave of blood hit the ground. Shaking, the green-red dragon hit the ground, slowly turning into his humanoid dragon form. Tadashi turned too, spitting blood and flesh and looking ready to vomit.   
Nothing in the world could hold Hiro back now. Within a heartbeat was he at the side of his brother, wrapping his arms and wings around them, burying his nose in his neck. He didn’t care about the blood, all he knew was that he needed to feel Tadashi now. A growl rose in his chest when he scented how strong Sebastian had covered the other in his scent during the fight.   
Even though Tadashi was shaking slightly, he too wrapped his arms around Hiro.  
“H-hiro, I…” Tadashi’s voice sounded hoarse from all the growling, roaring and fighting he had done.  
“Sshhhhh, shh”, interrupted Hiro. This was not where they should talk, all they should do now was holding each other and calm down. 

A noise forced him to lift his head off his brothers shoulder. Sebastian reached out for him, red eyes flickering and blood rushing out of his throat and mouth. He clearly wanted to say something, but with how much of his throat was missing, it was impossible. Just a moment later, the outreaching hand hit the ground, the rest of life leaving his eyes and his body stopped moving.   
Sebastian Sewell was dead. 

*********************************

How they made their way back to the hotel, neither of them remembered. Nico had taken Mrs. O’Leary with him into a second room, the hotel owner had – after a very loud argument – given to them, and was now with Hiro while Tadashi took a shower. Hiro and him had showered there too, leaving Tadashi in the other bathroom, since he was the dirtiest of them all. 

“ Hey”, whispered the son of Hades, one arm wrapped around his friend in concern. “How are you?”  
He didn’t ask if Hiro was fine. Nobody could be sane and fine after such a bloody fight. They had left Sebastian’s body in the cave since he had died in his humanoid dragon form and there was no way they could bring him over to camp anyway. They had, however, taken the box with them. Maybe they could find something useful inside of it. The entrance had closed itself magically, after they left again, no signs left of it’s existence. 

“I don’t know… I…”, Hiro stopped. The second they had entered the room, he had shifted back into his humanoid form again, feeling saver with this scales out. Now he sat there, knees against his chest, yearning for to just follow Tadashi and feel that his brother was still alive, hear his heartbeat and make sure he was okay.   
He stared at the son of Hades, trying to tell him everything without really telling him. How much he regretted following Sebastian, even though he now knew that it wasn’t entirely his fault. But if he wouldn’t have trusted the older man, then they would have talked about everything and maybe continued their quest together. Tadashi wouldn’t have been forced to fight and kill Sebastian and nobody would have gotten hurt. It was all his fault!

Nico must have seen his feelings in his eyes because he shook his head then. “No, don’t even start believing this. Nothing of this mess was your fault! Nothing, you hear me?”  
Hiro nodded slowly, even though he didn’t believe his friend at all. The Italian sighed and got up. “You probably don’t believe me now. But trust me, you will. One day.”

That was the moment, Tadashi got out of the shower. The moment, Hiro saw his brother again, something inside him snapped and he jumped off the bed, crashing against the older Hamada.   
“Errr… yeah… I’ll see if Mrs. O’Leary needs anything. You two okay?”, asked Nico, eying them. Hiro felt Tadashi nodding and the sound of a door closing shortly after.

“Uhm… Hiro? You… okay?”, asked Tadashi, carefully holding him.  
“No”, hissed Hiro. His mind was blurry now, all he could focus on was the growing need inside of him, the need of feeling Tadashi, feel his pack, just feel!  
A low growl escaped him as he grabbed Tadashi’s arm and pushed his brother onto the bed.   
“Are you hurt?”, asked Hiro, eyes and hands traveling over Tadashi’s skin and clothes, looking for any kind of injuries and finding way too many.   
“Hiro…”, started Tadashi but got interrupted by another growl.   
Wrapping his arms around Tadashi, Hiro pushed until they were lying on the bed, bodies pressed against each other.   
“The bastard hurt you”, growled Hiro before something else resurfaced in his mind. “And it’s all my…”  
A hand on his mouth stopped him from talking any further.  
“It’s not your fault, Hiro. If it’s anyone’s fault, then it’s mine. I hurt you and said these stupid things and started this all. I’m so sorry, Hiro!”

All these words spilled out of Tadashi’s mouth but Hiro somehow couldn’t really focus on them. At least until the older Hamada said something else.   
“And that’s just because of… me being a perverted idiot.”  
Hiro went still and somehow, his mind cleared a bit. “What are you talking about?”  
The other hesitated for a bit but then he seemed to make a decision and continued.   
“I know that it’s hard to take and I hope that you won’t be disgusted after I finished, but I’m sick of being unable to be honest with you.” Taking a deep breath, his brother continued. “Ever since I got more comfortable with this whole dragon thing, I… felt these urges. Instincts. I talked to Annabeth and she found out, that there are two kinds of dragons. Submissive ones and dominants. And my instincts as a dominant dragon… they told me to look for a submissive mate, for a pack. And they… I chose… you.”  
For a second, Hiro was too busy thinking for responding in any kind of way. Back in the cave, Sebastian had referred to him as a submissive dragon too. So him being a submissive and Tadashi being a dominant and their instincts looking for a mate… gasping, everything slipped into the right place. 

THAT’S THE POINT WHEN IT GET’S SMUTTY********DON’T LIKE DON’T READ!  
(There will be a bit of plot later on though)  
*****************************

Before he could say anything else, explain more details or anything, his mouth was closed by Hiro. Hiro who was very urgently kissing him.  
Tadashi’s eyes went wide in surprise and his hands shoot up to grab Hiro’s shoulders, not really sure as if to push him away or pull him closer.  
“So I’m no pervert at all!”, breathed Hiro, when he let go of his lips, eyes full of feelings and relief. Frowning, Tadashi opened his mouth but got silenced again by his brother’s lips.   
The next kiss, Tadashi couldn’t help but respond to, moving his lips in perfect sync with his brother’s.  
“I started to have these dreams, you know, dreams about you and me and I was so worried because I didn’t even tell you that I was gay and how should I explain that I wasn’t only gay but desired my own brother?”, panted Hiro, words spilling from his lips. He had shifted during their kiss, scales gone and lips flushed pink as well as his cheeks.   
“You too?”, asked Tadashi, not only breathless from their kiss. Hiro nodded and smiled, small tears gathering in his eyes.   
A wave of relief and happiness washed through his body. Hiro felt the same way as he did. He wanted him too. A little hope rose inside of him. Maybe they could be happy together one day. One day when Hiro was old enough and had fully made up his min…

His thoughts got interrupted when Hiro straddled his lap, pulling him in for another kiss, licking over his lips. Tadashi could feel how their bodies reacted to their passionate actions and he knew that he needed to stop this now or they would regret it later.   
Pushing against Hiro’s shoulders, he forced their lips to part. “Hiro, we can’t do this!”  
And holy shit, never had the hurt look inside those big brown eyes hurt more. With quivering lips, Hiro stared at him. “What, why?”  
“You’re too young. You haven’t even made other experiences yet. I can’t take this away from you…”, explained Tadashi even though his whole being screamed for him to just go back to kiss Hiro.   
“Stupid ‘Dashi”, huffed Hiro, shaking his head. “How can I ever want anyone else when everything inside of me already chose you?”   
With that said, he pushed their lips together again and nothing in the world could stop Tadashi from responding properly anymore. His heart felt ready to burst from all the love and happiness he was feeling while another part of him, constantly pressed against Hiro, felt ready to burst in a completely different kind of way. 

A deep growl escaped him and without thinking did he roll them around, pressing Hiro into the mattress beneath them. For a second, they just stared at each other, their breaths going fast and their bodies hot and shivering in anticipation.   
And then their instincts took over. Hands grabbed clothes, ripping them or, if they were lucky, pulling them off their skin. Fingers and lips roamed over every inch of freshly exposed skin, teeth nibbling, mouth sucking. Every touch of him made Hiro moan and yelp in such a delicious kind of way, it was addicting to Tadashi. He needed more of that. At some point, his lips were busy sucking on one of Hiro’s nipples while he held his brother close. His other hand travelled down Hiro’s back until it reached his ass. 

For a second or two, his hand just rested on those firm cheeks before his fingers slipped between them, reaching for the tight pucker in between. 

***********************

When Tadashi pushed against his hole, Hiro instantly relaxed. Everything inside of him was yearning for something specific, he felt so empty it hurt. The finger inside of him stayed still for a moment as if for giving him time to adjust before moving carefully. Letting go of his nipple, Tadashi started to kiss up to his lips again, their tongues starting to dance with each other while his finger rocked in and out of him. Soon another finger followed.   
“’Dashi”, whimpered Hiro, putting all his need into the nickname.   
Luckily, Tadashi seemed to understand because he pulled his fingers out of the by now dripping wet hole. Neither of the was really surprised by its wetness, their minds basically following instincts and feelings.

The moment, Tadashi entered his body with his dick, Hiro felt complete. Tadashi was everywhere around and inside him, they loved each other and everything was perfect in this very moment.   
But when Tadashi started moving in and out in a slow rhythm, Hiro knew that this, this lovemaking between them, was true perfection.   
With his legs wrapped around his brother’s waist did he urge him on to pick up the pace and when he did, Hiro threw his head back, moaning shamelessly. And the second, Tadashi managed to hit this one spot inside of him, started to brush against it repeatedly, Hiro actually saw stars.

It didn’t take them long to cum from that point on, Hiro from having his brother (or anyone else) fuck him for the first time and Tadashi from being overwhelmed by Hiro returning his feelings and having him back (and his incredibly tightness). 

*************************

BACK TO THE PLOT!!!!!!!!!!

They stayed in bed for the rest of the night, cuddling and talking to each other. Both of them were giddy to figure out, where their new kind of relationship would lead them. Of course there was the worry about how everyone else would react. Even though they were pretty sure, that Nico and Percy and a few others wouldn’t judge or care, they weren’t as sure about some others and then there was aunt Cass.   
After everything that had happened, the two Hamadas wanted to go home to their aunt as soon as possible. And Hiro needed to return to university too. That was a very uncomfortable topic between them. Of course, Hiro wanted to graduate properly but Tadashi couldn’t just return to their normal life with some kind of believable excuse. He had been dead after all. So his brother either needed to stay at home for the whole time or, as he had suggested himself, stay at camp, training. But Hiro didn’t like the idea of being separated from his brother (and future mate) for such a long time. Maybe they would find another solution when the time came. 

In the morning, they met up with Nico, who didn’t say a single word about how his night had been. The slight blush on his cheeks was a good giveaway though and for a few moments, everyone felt pretty awkward at the breakfast table. But then, they just shrugged it off. There were more important things than the fact that Nico had been forced to eavesdrop them through the wall.   
They would return to Camp today, and after that, Hiro and Tadashi would return to San Fransokyo.   
Before they left the hotel though, the three demigods met up in Nico’s room for the purpose of opening the wooden box. The things they found inside of it, made Hiro and Tadashi sigh in relief and would in the near future make a certain daughter of Athena squeal in happiness – inside of it where books. Three of them to be exact and a first look into it told them, that it was about dragons, their culture and so much more. The Hamadas were sure that they would find all the needed answers in between those pages. And maybe, the knowledge of their dragon heritage would bring them closer to their mother and even to aunt Cass and in the end closer to themselves.

Snuggling up against Tadashi, Hiro smiled. They were far from perfection and they knew it, but they were on the right way. And he knew if they were together, both him and Tadashi could do anything!

***************************

Epilogue*

Darkness.  
That was the first thing, he saw when his eyes opened themselves after an eternity of sleeping.   
Darkness and the smell of blood. There was a lot of blood from someone he hadn’t smelled or heard anything of for another eternity even before he fell asleep. Now he was dead, his body lying in a dried puddle of his own blood.   
And then there were four other scents. A hellhound, a demigod from an underworldly god. And two others. Those two were interesting and when he thought harder about it, he was sure that the scent of them was one reason he had been waken up now. They had the heritage of dragons inside of their blood, mixed with the blood of a god. Demigodly dragons, siblings from the similarity of their scent. 

With a low rumble did the stones fall off his body as he stretched, shaking his limbs awake. The blood had been one reason to wake up. But the main reason, the one why he was moving around again after all those centuries, the reason why he was still alive – his mate had been born again. His mate was alive again, the soul he loved, his other half had found another body and was somewhere out there.  
And he would find his mate.  
The torches lit up as he walked over to the hidden entrance at the other end of the cave, black wings hitting the ceiling. He wouldn’t be able to fly without his mate, but he would find him.  
There was nothing any creature on this world could do to stop him, the last night fury from getting what was his!

~To be continued~

(In another fanfiction of my Immortal series)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any suggestions for the next story, feel free to tell me. I lack a plot there ':)
> 
> Also, feel free to point out every mistake (in a nice kind of way, please!) :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, please tell me what you think!  
> \- Greetings, Yuki ^_^


End file.
